


Making A Move

by MusicLover19



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Deaf Clint Barton, Harry Needs a Hug, Harry moves to america, M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs Sleep
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 58,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4528464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicLover19/pseuds/MusicLover19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war left Harry in a bad place. After five years of caring for Teddy he decides he needs to move. Luckily America is far away and a big place. However, Harry didn't take into account the muggle news. This means that Harry does not know about the Avengers, something which Tony Stark finds impossible to believe.</p><p>
  <b>Being edited and soon updated once again.</b>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Teddy Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated on 28/12/17.

Harry Potter was a man who had almost lost everything. He had fought in a war and came out a broken person. At such a young age so much pressure was placed on him and even after the war he still had so much people had expected him to do.

There was one thing that Harry took to without any complaining. After Remus and Tonks’ death during the Battle of Hogwarts, Andromeda had not only lost her daughter but her husband was also gone. Teddy Lupin was left in a difficult place. Both his parents were killed and his grandmother was unable to grieve for her child with him around, it was an emotional afternoon when she confessed this fact to Harry.

“I’m sorry to burden you with this but he is so much like Dora was,” Andromeda had said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “He has her ability you know. Whenever he cries his hair changes colour, any emotion sends it wild. I need time to let her go.”

Harry had no other idea of what to do. He had taken the woman’s hand and promised to care for Teddy until she felt better. He knew how grief can be overwhelming, he knew the constant reminders didn’t help, so at the very least, he could do this for her.

It had taken a full day to move Teddy to Grimmauld Place. It was not an ideal place for a child but it would do.

Those first few weeks were trying for the poor hero. He was unsure of how to care for a baby and if it weren’t for Kreacher then Harry would not have been able to cope. The old house elf was a godsend for Harry, he had taken time to talk Harry through the way to care for a child.

Time passed quickly as Harry cared for the child, Andromeda continued to stay far from Harry and Teddy and Harry was avoiding his own friends that reminded him of the damage he caused to people. He had, however, stayed on top of the news. It had been a few months after the Voldemort’s death that Hogwarts was rebuilt, Harry had declined an invitation to go to the re-opening. McGonagall hadn’t been happy, and Harry could practically feel her stare as he wrote his letter. Her response had been kind, not calling Harry out on his need to hide away, but Harry could read the undertone loud and clear.

The late start of the school year went quickly, with stories of past students that died in the war appearing to watch over the new ones, some giving advice and others wanting to stop any teachers that were abusing their power. The prophet spent months talking to both past and present students in the castle and they were sympathetic to those still mourning. There were stories of children in higher years that were getting stronger and returning to the school, there were stories of those that had died and how they will never be forgotten. It was these stories in particular that hurt Harry. The stories that showed the world coping, that things were continuing and people were managing, the stories that glossed over the fact the world had to mend. It felt tactless for them to praise the strength of the teachers going back to teach, the ones that labelled ghosts as heroes. Never did they once point out how much that must hurt, how each moment in that castle would cause painful reminders. That the teachers would be able to walk through the halls filled with ghosts of students they cared for, fellow friends. Let alone the students themselves, some of them had siblings, friends that would litter the halls forevermore. It sickened Harry, it made his heart weep and made him want to demolish the whole place, start it again from starch. It wasn’t manageable though, Harry knew this. As much as it would ease his own pain, it would erase the past, and those that didn’t learn from the past were doomed to repeat it. Yes, people were lost, and the effects were devastating, but the world needed that reminder, the founders of Hogwarts built the school is gloomy times, times where they were being hunted and killed, Hogwarts had become a beacon of hope and no amount of pain or devastation would change that.

Amongst the stories praising the world for continuing, there were also ones asking where the saviour of the wizarding world was. Those searching for Harry were more difficult. It was Harry that didn’t feel able to walk through Diagon Alley, or even see pictures of Hogwarts. Yes, Harry was happy the world was dealing with the aftermath of the war but he wanted to stay away from them. He didn’t want the reminders more than he already had. They were painful enough to think about, to know that his friends worried about him. Harry felt responsible. Survivor’s guilt, according to Kreacher. Harry doubted that it would ever get easier, not with everything around him. Not when he was looking after a young boy whose parents were dead because of him. If Harry had been quicker, if he hadn’t fought or tried to hide, then so many more people would have survived.

* * *

As much as Teddy’s presence hurt Harry, there was so much love and pride that the hurt took a backseat. Harry still felt guilt, especially early on, every cuddle and intimate moment he had with the child made him remember that he shouldn’t be there, not with Teddy. The first time Teddy rolled over, sat up on his own, and crawled, Harry had shut himself away, thankful for Kreacher how would appear without a word to take over and let Harry have his own moment. He was proud, there was so much pride in how much Teddy had managed but Tonks and Remus should have been the ones watching with pride, the ones smiling and laughing, not Harry. It was hard, and Harry partly hated himself because of how much he _needed_ Teddy in his life, how much he relied on having this child look up at him with love and happiness. It ate at him in the darker days.

The first time Teddy spoke filled Harry with pride. He shared the news with Kreacher, who was growing old, and he sent a letter to Andromeda, as he had previously with the major milestones. He hesitated afterwards, wanting to fawn over the development but unsure of just how to reach out to anyone else. Hermione and Ron would be proud, or Harry believed they would. It was just hard to overcome that brief moment of fear about how they’d react. Harry didn’t want to believe that they would hold his need for isolation against him, but he did worry.

When Teddy continued to grow his vocabulary Harry decided to continue with his ventures into the muggle world, having cast a spell on Teddy’s hair to stop him confusing the poor people for an hour or so. Teddy got to interact with other children his age, not really making friends but getting some social stimulation. Harry tended to stay on the outskirts, avoiding the other parents as he watched Teddy.

It was one night when Harry was bathing Teddy that he got a shock. Having shampooed the boy’s hair Harry helped him tip his head back so he could rise off the shampoo. Having done that Harry sat back on his feet to retrieve the towel and dried his hands as the young boy played with his bath toys in the water.

“Dada up!” Teddy had said lifting his arms in Harry’s direction.

Harry froze, just staring at Teddy with a mixture of fear and horror growing in his chest. Teddy shouldn’t know that word, neither Harry nor Kreacher used it. Harry couldn’t bear the implications it brought.

“Dada!”

Numbly Harry moved forward, picking Teddy out of the bath and wrapping the towel around him. As if sensing the trouble, an elderly Kreacher appeared and took Teddy from Harry’s arms and disappeared with him out of the room.

Harry had stayed knelt on the floor, sitting back on his feet for a while before Kreacher came back into the room and helped move the man.

After moving Harry into his room and changing his clothing into a dry set, Kreacher moved to leave again.

“Kreacher?” Harry asked before the elf disappeared again.

“Yes, Master Harry?” Kreacher asked in his raspy voice.

“Am I replacing Remus?”

Kreacher’s expression softened as he looked up to his Master who was currently sat on the bed looking distraught.

“Perhaps this is something to talk about with Miss. Hermione and Mr. Weasley?” Kreacher suggested before disappearing to, more than likely, check on Teddy.

Harry sighed to himself. He hadn’t spoken to Hermione and Ron in over a year, not since their fruitful attempt to get him to go out into the magical world. He had considered it but that first contact was daunting.

He waited until Teddy was settled for bed before making Kreacher promise to get him if Teddy woke. Harry walked to the fire with worry building in his chest as he shouted “The Burrow” into the Floo. He walked through and was greeted with Arthur and Molly sat together talking.

“Harry dear! It’s been so long!” Molly cried as she jumped up and pulled him into a hug. The worry in Harry’s heart lessened slightly. At least he wasn’t kicked out as soon as he arrived.

“Hi Molly,” he whispered, returning the hug.

“Harry,” Arthur said with a smile.

“Arthur,” Harry smiled. “How has everyone been?”

“Well, we’ve been well,” Arthur admitted with a small sigh. “Everyone will be pleased to see you, they’re all going to be on their way back soon.”

“I can’t stay long,” Harry said softly, not wanting to ruin the moment. “I will need to get back to Teddy.”

“Oh dear!” Molly gasped. “You’re raising him?”

“Yeah, Andromeda needed to grieve,” Harry said.

“Poor dear. You could have brought him here. I bet you had trouble. I could have helped you know.”

“I know Molly but  _I_  needed time as well,” Harry said. “Ron and Hermione knew this.”

“It would still have been nice to see you,” Arthur said.

“I couldn’t come here,” Harry admitted. “Not after…” the air grew tight as the unspoken ‘Fred’ was thought.

“It doesn’t matter, you’re here now,” Arthur said firmly, placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder as her eyes watered. “What brings you here tonight?”

“I wanted to talk to Hermione and Ron, something happened with Teddy and I don’t –“

“We can help if you’d like. We’ve raised our fair share of kids,” Molly said softly.

“It’s… Teddy called me dad,” Harry said, bracing himself for the onslaught of horror.

“Oh my,” Molly pulled Harry closer to her and sat him down. “It’s ok dear.”

“How is it ok?” Harry asked, tears welling in his eyes without his permission, he didn’t want to cry in front of either of them. “I feel like I’m betraying Remus!”

“Harry,” Arthur said softly. “Teddy is still young. Yes he called you dad but to him you are doing everything that a father does. It doesn’t mean you are betraying Remus. The fact you are feeling the way you do says everything about it.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Harry admitted.

“Dear, at the moment you can either tell him to call you something else when he does this or you can leave him calling you dad,” Molly said as she brushed his hair out of his eyes. “When he is old enough to understand you can tell him about Remus and Tonks and there will be no betrayal.”

Harry thought for a moment. “What is the right choice?” Harry didn’t feel able to make a choice, and perhaps that said more than enough. He loved Teddy, the kid was his child, he would do anything to protect him, even if it meant hurting himself.

“There is no right choice,” Arthur said gently. “If you contradict him when he calls you that it can confuse him and if you tell him later it might upset him. It’s a difficult choice but neither if a wrong one,” Arthur said calmly. “He will understand.”

“So I’m not a bad person for letting him call me dad?” Harry whispered, his heart clenched at the thought. As much as Harry never wanted to hear that word, he was a father figure to the kid.

“Of course not,” Molly said as she hugged him tightly.

“Thank you,” Harry said thickly after a while. “I – I needed that.”

“It’s no problem,” Arthur said with a small smile.

“I should head back,” Harry said.

“Aren’t you going to stay?” Molly asked. Harry had begun to shake his head at the question before he even thought about it. He had had a lot of interaction already, more than he would normally. He didn’t want to overwhelm himself, not yet. He had already nearly cried.

“No, tell Ron and Hermione that I would love to see them though,” he said with a smile.


	2. Telling the Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated on 28/12/2017

A couple of years passed and Harry marvels in the feeling of having his friends close by once more. It was strange to think that he had isolated himself as much as he had, but almost as soon as he visited the Burrow, almost each day brought visitors. After reaching out to Ron and Hermione, Neville and Luna soon followed, along with the rest of the Weasley’s.

It wasn’t until the third anniversary of the battle that Harry saw George though. It was the early morning that the Floo roared to life, sending Teddy into giggles as he waited for the person to step through.

The one eared man stumbled through looking dreadful. Harry had jumped up to steady him. George had looked up at Harry and just broke into tears. Within the tears were pleas for forgiveness and apologies. Harry led George to the couch and sat him down with a promise of being right back. Sending Teddy to play and making George a drink of tea, he came back and sat with the crying man for most of the day, only moving to check on Teddy and ask Kreacher to prepare food.

It was after dinner that George spoke clearly, his voice was tired and croaky.

“I blamed you,” he had said. “It was easier and you weren’t around. I pretended you were the one that made us fight.” Harry had said nothing, only reaching out to rub George’s shoulder. “Fred would hate me for it.”

“He wouldn’t. He might have yelled and hit you over the head but he wouldn’t hate you,” Harry pointed out as George smiled reminiscently at his words. There was very little Harry was able to do, no real words of comfort to offer someone who had lost a family member in a fight that was won out of luck.

“I miss him.”

At this Harry did look down. Any response he possible had flew out of the window at the sudden admission. He wanted to say that they all missed Fred and that George wasn’t the only one that suffered, but the words died before they even reached his throat. He couldn’t say that, not now and not ever, surely it would be minimising how George felt, and he lost his twin, his other half, his partner in crime.

“Right before it started,” George’s eyes filled with tears again as his voice shook. “He made me promise that no matter what happened – no matter what, I couldn’t shut myself away,” George paused to collect himself as Harry’s heart continued to sink in his chest. “I told him to shut up. I thought he was being stupid but – he knew. He had this look, like – like... he looked ready to fight to the death. I shouldn’t have let him go.”

“George,” Harry said hoarsely.

“I shouldn’t have blamed you,” George said simply as he stood.

“George,” Harry said again, he didn’t bother standing. “I don’t care.” Harry closed his eyes as George turned to face him. He needed to tell someone, and George was probably only one of the ones that would understand right now. “I – I still blame myself. I know it isn’t all my fault but every single person that died that day or even anyone that was hurt after he came back – if he didn’t get my blood they wouldn’t have died. Hell if he had just killed me none of the people would have died because of me. I am really sorry about your brother, maybe if I never met Ron -”

“You can’t say that!” George said sternly, cutting Harry off, the tears still falling down his cheeks once more. Harry swallowed when he opened his eyes and saw the man before him. There was such determination in his face, despite the pain and the tears. “You were the best thing that happened to Ron. You changed him so much.”

“I brought a lot of pain as well George,” Harry pointed out weakly.

“We managed. You were family.”

“I am just saying that it would have been better for all of you,” Harry said tiredly. “Ginny wouldn’t have been possessed, Ron wouldn’t have broken his leg or be stuck at the bottom of a lake. Percy wouldn’t have abandoned you. Ron – Ron wouldn’t have almost died multiple times. Bill wouldn’t have been attacked and Fred would still be alive. I brought more danger than anything and now – now I need to keep Teddy safe,” Harry’s watery eyes widened as he realised this insane task he had now. “How am I meant to keep a child safe when I almost get killed all the time?”

George gave a wet laugh as he shook his head. “You’re an idiot,” he muttered fondly and he pulled Harry up from the couch and into a hug. Harry didn’t protest the action, his body feeling heavy and George’s embrace feeling so warm and comforting. There were no expectations, he wasn’t a hero, they were both just broken men.

It was around this moment that Teddy ran into the room, a tired Kreacher following behind.

“Daddy! Daddy! Look!” he cried before he froze, watching the two men cry into each other.

Harry looked up from George’s shoulder and smiled. “What’cha got?” he asked as he pulled back.

“I drew a picture!” Teddy said happily. “It’s us at the park!”

“This is really good Teddy,” Harry smiled at the child.

George stayed for a while, enjoying time spent playing with Teddy and catching up with Harry. It was good for him, he had admitted before he left. George had spent so much time on his own, avoiding anything _fun_ or carefree, Harry understood, so much so that he couldn’t help but invite George back over the following day. George declined, needing that time alone again, but he did return the day after.

* * *

It was about a month before Teddy’s fourth birthday that Harry decided it was time. He had been preparing himself for this moment for around a year now. He had spoken to his friends, to Molly and Arthur as well as to several muggles that he saw on his trips into the muggle world for Teddy to socialise with other children. Harry had been lucky enough to befriend a mother who had adopted her eldest son, so he was more than happy to hear her advice. She had been helpful, offering her own experience and listening to Harry’s own worries about how Teddy might react.

Harry had eventually ended up with a notebook of advice from those around him. He had taken a leaf from Hermione’s book, making sure to compile what he found.

_ Telling Teddy the Truth _

  *           _Tell him when he is young but when he is able to understand._
  *           _Explain about Remus and Tonks._
  *           _Let him know how much they loved him and how proud they would be._
  *           _Explain to them that being this does not mean they are loved any less than any other child._
  *           _Show him pictures of them._
  *           _Be aware that your child may be calm when you tell them and react later._
  *           _Keep in mind he may want to talk about them again and give them lots of reassurance._
  *           _Tell him the truth._
  *           _Make sure you are able to give your child your full attention._
  *           _Anger and confusion is normal._



Harry had decided that he would do it today, he would tell Teddy and accept what might happen. Teddy might hate him, and Molly had offered her house if Teddy need space, not that Harry would feel comfortable taking that. He had told Kreacher what he was planning, so the house elf could keep an eye and an ear open for the kid if he really didn’t want to talk to Harry.

“Teddy –” Harry faltered, looking at the young boy, his hair blue at the moment as he stared at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, the confusion turning his hair a darker shade.

“I need to tell you something, it might be confusing but I know you are old enough to hear it –“

“Because I’m a big boy!” Teddy smiled widely, cutting Harry off.

“Exactly,” Harry smiled, he played with the pictures in his hands slightly before placing them on the table. “Teddy, yesterday you asked about your mum, you remember?”

Teddy nodded slowly, remembering Harry’s promise of ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow, I promise kiddo,’ before tucking him into bed.

“This woman here,” Harry said as he pushed the picture towards Teddy. Harry was sat on the couch and Teddy was still sat on the floor, on the other side of the coffee table. “Is your mother. The man next to her was her husband and he was your father.”

“But you are my dad,” Teddy protested, not even looking at the picture yet.

“He is as well,” Harry said softly.

Teddy gave Harry a confused look before taking the picture. He smiled as he saw Tonks change her hair colour to match Teddy’s.

“She’s like me!” he giggled.

“You got it from her,” Harry agreed. Harry’s smile hurt him, but he was happy to be telling Teddy the truth, to let Teddy know and to stop living a lie.

“What’s her name?” Teddy asked softly, not looking away from Tonks.

“She was called Nymphadora but she preferred Tonks. She thought her name was too long,” Harry said.

“Tonks…” Teddy suddenly frowned. “Why isn’t she here?” Harry’s heart broke all too quickly, he had expected it but the confusion and pain on Teddy’s face was something more than Harry had imagined possible.

“Tonks and Remus, your father,” Harry said as he leant forward and pointed to Remus. “Both helped defeat Voldemort. Do you remember the stories I told you about him?” Harry asked, Teddy nodded thoughtfully. “Voldemort and his Death Eaters hurt them both. They were hurt really badly –“

“Like Uncle Fred?” Teddy asked softly.

Harry sucked in a breath, unaware that Teddy knew about Fred. “Yes, just like Uncle Fred. They were hurt so much that their bodies weren’t able to handle it. Teddy, they helped get rid of Voldemort to keep you safe.”

“They’re not coming back?” Teddy asked softly.

“No,” Harry whispered as the people in the picture waved. “They can’t come back, but if you would like we can go visit them? We can take them flowers and we can talk about them. Whenever you want, I promise.”

“Dad? Did – did they like me?” Teddy stammered, his eyes watering.

“Come here,” Harry whispered, pulling Teddy onto his lap once he had wobbled around the table. He needed to hold Teddy together for his own sanity. “They loved you so much,” Harry stressed. If nothing else, he wanted Teddy to know that. “They were so excited to see you. I remember Remus right after you were born, he was so happy. He couldn’t stop talking about you.”

“Do you like me?” Teddy’s voice was barely a whisper when he utters those words. Harry just hugged the child tighter to his chest.

“I love you cub. Even more than I love Ron and Hermione, but don’t let them know that,” Harry added with a whisper, which made the child laugh. The two stayed sat together for a while. Teddy looking at the picture whilst being held by Harry.

“How are you feeling?” Harry asked softly.

“I – I don’t know,” Teddy admitted.

“That’s ok. I know it is difficult. Did I tell you about my parents?” Harry asked, not remembering doing so previously. Teddy shook his head so Harry continued.

“When I was little, a lot younger than you. I lived with my mum and dad. Their names were Lily and James. They loved me a lot and they used magic to make my toys move. My dad would turn into an animal and let he sit on his back as well. Then one night, they got hurt a lot by Voldemort, just like your mum and dad. I was there when they got hurt and Voldemort wanted to hurt me too. My mum was very smart though,” Harry said with a smile. “She knew a lot of magic as well, so she made sure to put a spell on me before she was hurt. That spell helped me stay safe. But just like Uncle Fred and your parents, my mum and dad weren’t allowed to come back. They were hurt too much. So I went to live with my mum’s sister and I grew up there before going to Hogwarts.”

“Are you my mum’s brother?” Teddy asked softly.

“No cub, I was a very good friend of you mum and your dad. They asked me to take care of you if they got hurt.”

Teddy nodded silently, moving to pass the picture back to Harry.

“You can keep that if you want,” Harry said. “We can look through some more pictures and make a book as well if you want. Then you can see them both whenever you want to.”

The rest of the day was a quiet one. Teddy kept his new picture close by and he stuck close to Harry. When it came to bedtime Teddy had softly asked if he could stay with Harry, ‘just for tonight’ he had promised. A small nod had been all that was needed to see Teddy crawl into Harry’s bed and curl up with the picture of his parents sat on the nightstand.


	3. Moving Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, wow. Just firstly I would like to say thank you all so much for how well this has been received. I think this is the most attention one of my stories have gotten in the first few days of posting. Plus I've done a chapter a day so far, which is amazing. So thank you, you have no idea how much just seeing how many people have put me on alerts motivates me.
> 
>  
> 
> **Updated 29/12/2017**

“Are you sure you want to do this Harry?” Hermione asked as she nursed a cup of tea.

It was after nine, Teddy was asleep and Harry had asked Hermione to come over. He needed another opinion, one that wasn’t too emotional. Hermione was the right person for that, she was able to hold her own emotions back, to think clearly about the issue and offer her own views that weren’t jaded.

“I’ve been considering it since he turned two,” Harry confessed. “I can leave in a week if I need to. I just, I need to get away.”

Hermione put her cup down and lent over the table to take Harry’s hand. Harry swallowed thickly, memories of the two of them alone in the tent flashing before his eyes. He pulled his hand back, aware of Hermione’s concerned glance.

“We all know you need space Harry, I don’t think any of us thought you would leave though. If it is what you want to do then you should,” Hermione said with a smile. “It isn’t like it would be difficult to visit.” This was exactly why Harry loved Hermione, why he trusted Hermione, even if the emotional theory wasn’t always there.

“I know, I just can’t see Molly understanding,” Harry shrugged as he went back to his cup. He didn’t want to disappoint anyone, he never aimed to.

“No, Molly wants everyone close to home, that’s for sure,” Hermione said thoughtfully. “We could always spin it a different way? Do you have an idea of where you would go?”

“I thought about New York,” Harry admitted bashfully. It was more of a childhood dream. “I wanted to go there when I was younger, Dudley said it was amazing.”

“It’s a busy place,” Hermione pointed out. Another reason Harry loved Hermione, she was more perceptive than some other people. Maybe she felt the same overwhelming anxiety when she was surrounded, like death eaters would appear from nowhere and start attacking once more.

“I know, I can stay on the outskirts though, or even a quieter part of it. I know there are a few magical schools around that run weekend and afternoon clubs for kids. Teddy would like to meet more magical children,” Harry paused. “I just don’t like not being able to take him to areas where he can be himself. All our outings are into muggle areas and he hates wearing anything that suppresses his metamorphic abilities.”

“I know Harry,” Hermione fell silent. Harry could almost hear her mind work, there was a part of her that didn’t want him to leave, that much was clear.

“Kreacher will be going soon,” Harry said to fill the silence. “He told me the other day. He wanted to know if I wanted a replacement.”

“Do you?”

Harry shook his head. “I can’t. He’s been a huge help with Teddy but I don’t think I need the extra help. Teddy is growing and he doesn’t need as much. I will miss Kreacher though…”

“He is old Harry,” Hermione pointed out.

Silence fell once more.

“You should go.”

“What?” Harry asked, a little confused.

“To America. They’ll understand,” Hermione took a breath. “You should go before Kreacher dies, he can help you move and settle in. You can come back with barely any effort. If it will help you then go. Don’t let us hold you back when it isn’t really an obstacle.”

“Hermione,” Harry breathed. He didn’t know what he wanted, if he wanted to stay or not. He wanted someone to say for sure, to just tell him what he needed to do. He didn’t want to leave his friends again. “You can come too. Take a break and then try again,” Harry said, knowing the loss of her job was hitting her hard. She had been spending more time at Harry’s, the bags under her eyes hidden with forced smiles as she played with Teddy and basked in a judgement free zone.

“If I leave then how will Ron cope?” It was a pitiful excuse and Harry knew just how much it hurt her. “He needs someone to help him with his paperwork,” Hermione smiled. “Just don’t leave us without you for a year again. We need to know you’re alright.”

Harry smiled widely, taking Hermione’s hint to gloss over the uneasy topic. Overall, he was glad he had chosen Hermione to talk to. She was probably the only one that would see his perspective. The others were still struggling to understand Harry’s aversion to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. Even in Grimmauld Place he was surrounded by memories. A new place would be the best thing for him and Teddy. They could be themselves.

* * *

The airport was a lot bigger than Harry had expected, the sight of people around them chattering and pacing set Harry’s heart pounding. He wondered for the thousandth time if he was doing the right thing. It would be easy to sink into his anxiety, there were so many people, all around him.

Teddy squeezed Harry’s hand, instantly quelling the fear as Harry’s focus switched. Teddy stood there, almost vibrating with excitement as he stared at the passers-by.

“Come on Dad!” the child groaned, trying to pull Harry forward.

“Hold on,” Harry said with a smile. There was a small part of him that was amazed how much Teddy helped him. “We need to make sure we have everything ready for the people at the desk remember.”

Teddy moaned again, “but I want to see the plane!”

“We’ll be a moment, then we will talk to the people at the table to let them know we are here. Then we will go through the security checks, after all of that you can see the plane,” Harry had told Teddy this multiple this already on the way to the airport. Whilst they could have easily gotten to their new house with magic, Hermione had suggested trying the muggle way, something that Teddy was overly enthusiastic about.

Harry had triple checked his pockets multiple times on their journey to the airport, even going as far as having Hermione check that he had all the information he needed, just in case he had forgotten something. Now they were stood in the line to check in Harry was growing increasingly nervous again.

“Do you want to hold the passports?” Harry asked, trying to distract himself as he checked Teddy’s passport, it showed the four-year-old with black hair. It had been Teddy’s choice as to what colour hair he would have for the journey. Teddy did like to look like Harry, sometimes even venturing out into the familiar bubble-gum pink or the fading brown that he saw in his parent’s pictures.

“Yes!” Teddy almost shouted, he thrust his arm out. The tell-tale green bracelet sat on his wrist, it had an image of a red dragon wrapping itself around the fabric, it was this that was stopping Teddy’s metamorphic abilities from showing. Luna had been in contact several times to offer bracelets, necklaces and even earrings that would dull Teddy’s abilities.

“Make sure you keep hold of these. Otherwise, we won’t be allowed on the plane,” Harry warned, watching Teddy tighten his grip on his passport. “Good, you still got your bag?” Harry asked, using Teddy as his distraction if he focused on Teddy, then he didn’t feel the need to check his escape points or the people around them.

“Yes, dad! It’s here,” Teddy turned, showing Harry the bag on his back.

An elderly lady stood behind them in the queue smiled. “Your first flight?”

“Yep! We’re going to ‘merica. Aunt Hermione says it’s really big,” Teddy gushed.

“America,” Harry corrected, smiling at Teddy’s antics. Teddy was outgoing, willing to talk to anyone around him, and it was something Harry never wanted to change, it bode well, spoke of a future where Teddy managed to have a group of friends, very little enemies around him. It was all that Harry hoped for.

“Wow, it is a big place there. There are lots of people and lots of things to do,” the woman said.

“Daddy did say we would go exploring,” Teddy said, bouncing slightly on his toes. “I can’t wait.”

Harry moving his hand to Teddy’s shoulder to calm him slightly, he could just imagine Teddy deflating before he got a chance to see the plane he was so eager to see. “We have a lot of time to explore but if you don’t settle you’ll not feel up to looking around when we get there. It’s a long plane ride remember.”

Teddy sagged slightly. “Where are you going?” he suddenly asked, rounding back to the old woman. Harry had a flash of pride, Teddy was a good kid, considerate enough to ask about other people.

 “Me? I’m going to visit my grandchildren in Spain.”

“That’s a journey for you,” Harry said with a frown, taking into account the woman’s age.

The lady laughed, making Harry blush. “It isn’t a problem. I’ve had lots of experience flying.”

Harry stammered slightly, he was horrified by himself, maybe he wasn’t as adjusted as he thought. Had times changed that much since he was little? Harry didn’t have too much time before the woman patted his back, “don’t worry. Just enjoy your trip,” she smiled before Harry was ushered to the check-in counter, he pulled the suitcase up behind him and offered the man behind the desk a smile.

“Just you sir?”

“Me and my son,” Harry said. He picked Teddy up and held him as he passed the passports over.

“Alright then,” the man smiled as he looked through the passports and checked the pictures against Harry and Teddy.

“Super, let’s get your boarding passes printed and then we’ll get your luggage ready Mr. Potter.”

“Brilliant,” Harry said to the man before he popped Teddy back on the floor. “Stay close remember,” he reminded the child before he had the chance to entertain the thought of running off.

“Here are your boarding passes, keep them with your passports. You’ll need to show the both of them before you board the plane. If you would pop your bags on the scales,” the man – Barry – said as he put the passports, each with a boarding pass placed in it, on the table.

Harry nodded, moving to lift the bag onto the scales. There was a charm on the bag, making it larger inside than it seemed without adjusting the weight that the scales would pick up.

 “That all seems to be in order,” the man said. “I hope you enjoy your flight.”

“Woah,” Teddy said watching the bag, with its newly placed tag roll away from him. Harry smiled again, picking up the passports with the boarding passes and taking Teddy’s hand. Maybe he should make more of an effort to take Teddy out into the muggle world and see the technology they had, it was ingenious sometimes after all.

The security process fascinated Teddy, who didn’t understand why he had to take his shoes off and put them in a tub. He watched with interest as Harry beeped on his way through the metal detector and had to be patted down. Luckily both bags had passed the checks, making Harry sigh internally with relief. He hadn’t doubted Hermione’s charms, but he couldn’t help the slight panic when they had gone through the machine.

Taking time to put both his and Teddy’s shoes back on and set Teddy’s bag back on his back, Harry led them into the main part of the airport. Teddy talked continuously about all the things he wanted to see and try and Harry listened whilst he mapped out the route they needed to take to their gate.

They stopped at a subway store and got themselves something to eat, aware that the flight wouldn’t leave for a while. After Teddy was fed and given a bottle of water he pulled Harry towards the huge glass windows that showed the flights that were already prepared to board.

 “They are so big,” Teddy said in awe as he watched the planes move and even take off. Settling down next to Teddy, Harry watched both the planes take off and Teddy gasp and giggle every time one passed.

Getting Teddy on the aeroplane was a relatively easy ordeal. Harry had happily let the child sit next to the window. The take-off went by with little worry on Teddy’s part, he sat with his eyes glued to the window as the motion made him bounce excitedly.

“We’re moving!” he gushed.

Harry was slightly more nervous than Teddy. There was a feeling of excitement and hope but at the same time, Harry thought that the feeling of the plane moving was uneasy and it sent butterflies into his stomach that brought faint memories of his broom-riding days. This was a little more unnerving than a broom, Harry had no control over the plane, and he couldn’t _see_ what was happening around him, which always set off his nerves a little.

Once the plane settled into its flight Harry internally marvelled at how motionless the journey was. Allowing Teddy to use a pair of his headphone he set up one of the children’s films on the small TV that was mounted on the backs of the seats.

 _Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad_ , Harry thought as he settled into his seat with a charmed book.


	4. Jake From MACUSA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated 29/12/2017
> 
> I think this is where the changes really start, I'm moving Tony's introduction to the next chapter, this one having already grown more than I planned.

The plane ride came and went with barely any turbulence disrupting the flight. Teddy watched his film, spent some time colouring and even fell asleep for last part of the ride after asking Harry to read to him. Harry had spent the time that Teddy was asleep re-reading his moving guide. He had already read it several times, but he wanted one final browse over it just to make sure that he had the right information. Hermione had gotten him to contact the American Ministry of Magic to tell them that he was moving, something that got a very quick response. He had been given leaflets and guides that were meant to help him settle into his new home. He had even been told by the Ministry that they would send someone to collect him and show him around the town.

Teddy was groggy as Harry led him off the plane and into another airport. Thankfully, the grogginess stayed and Harry didn’t have to shoot apologetic looks to the other passengers as he cried, like another couple had to. Their child had woken as they landed, panic and confusion clear in the loud wails. Seeing how tired Teddy was, Harry lifted him and carried him the rest of the way to the baggage claim.

“We just need to find our bag, can you remember what colour it was?” Harry asked quietly to Teddy, who nodded and whispered back, “blue”.

“That’s it, so we just wait until we can see our blue bag,” Harry bounced Teddy slightly, trying to avoid the child falling back asleep. As much as Teddy sleeping on the plane was fine, Harry didn’t want to let him fall back into slumber again. He wanted to make sure that Teddy’s adjustment into the American time was smooth and ideally with as little jet lag as possible.

It took a few minutes for the luggage to be released onto the conveyor belt and it then took a few more minutes before Harry found the suitcase in question that they needed. He set Teddy down as he pulled the bag from the platform.

Taking Teddy’s hand and keeping hold of the suitcase, Harry began making his way through the security checks once again. It was a little more hectic than it was leaving England, the American’s taking their security more seriously than the British did. Even so, Harry managed to pass through with very little trouble. The man at the counter had smiled at the sight of Teddy and let them pass with little trouble, even going to the extent of keeping his voice low.

They were making their way down the escalator when Harry spotted a man holding a sign saying “POTTER”. When the man holding the sign spotted Harry he waved. Harry hoped, as he closed the distance between them, that this man wasn’t going to be star struck, or loud because Harry didn’t think he had it in him to play that nice.

“Mr. Potter!” the man called as Harry moved closer. “I’m here to take you to your new house. May I take your bag?”

“You’re from the Ministry I take it?” Harry asked politely.

“Yes, I’m a part of The Magical Congress of the United States of America, known to American witches and wizards by the abbreviation MACUSA,” the man said quickly, making a noise at the end that Harry blinked at. He guessed that ‘Mah – cooz – ah’ was what he had meant to say, but Harry wasn’t quite sure where the ‘mah’ came from unless it was purely because of the ‘mah’ in magical? “They were going to send someone tomorrow,” the man continued on, “to give you time to recover from the trip but it occurred to us that you may need help finding your new living area.”

“We could have taken a taxi,” Harry pointed out with a smile. So far it was going well, the ministry worker wasn’t being intrusive, or even overly friendly. Maybe the journey wouldn’t be too rough, even if this was a little out of the blue.

“Well, don’t take offence,” the man said quickly, “but most British folk aren’t too keen to do things the No-Maj way – muggle, you’ll know it as,” the man said taking hold of Harry’s suitcase. “The Ministry was rather pleased when you said you would be coming by No-Maj means. We know your history but I guess people were still worried that you’d hate everything No-Maj.”

Harry nodded, letting the man know that it made sense and it didn’t offend him. No-Maj, that was new, it wouldn’t take long to use but the difference still made Harry’s brain pause a little. Harry had always been good at adapting, and he would just do the same here.

“Right Ted, do you want to walk?” Harry asked, seeing Teddy rub his eyes and shake his head, Harry smiled again and picked him up. Teddy was adorable, especially when he was half asleep and not running circles around Harry.

“Let’s go,” the man said. “We have a car waiting for us.”

“Sorry, but I didn’t catch your name,” Harry said as they began to walk towards the exit.

“Jake, Jake Eastman. I work in International Relations,” Jake said with enthusiasm. “Normally I have to contact and talk to the older stuffy people doing the same in other countries but this is a nice change.”

“I bet it does,” Harry nodded. 

“You have no idea,” Jake gestured to the car. “This is our ride for today. There is a booster seat in the back.”

Harry nodded again and went to set Teddy up in the car, with how tired Teddy seemed to be it was no trouble to do.

“Am I in the front?” Harry asked Jake who was still putting the suitcase in the trunk of the car.

“If you want to be,” Jake said. “I’m driving though.”

“That’s fine,” Harry said, closing the door next to Teddy. He still hadn’t learnt to drive, most of the places he would venture to were within walking distance, and if that wasn’t manageable, then he always had magic on his side.

The car journey passed rather slowly. Jake pointed out various stores and restaurants that Harry may want to take Teddy, Chuck E. Cheese being one of the suggested.

“That’s an impressive building,” Harry said, pointing at the tall tower.

“That’s the head of Stark Industries. The guy that runs the place is a genius. The things that man can do with No-Maj technology is amazing,” Jake said. “He’s about as well known in the No-Maj world as you are in the wizarding world.”

“Wow, and he feels the need to put his name on a tower?” Harry asked in a slight unbelieving tone, he couldn’t even imagine doing anything of the sort.

“He’s known for being cocky. He is brilliant though, living here you should keep watch for the newer stuff coming out. It is always something to see, Stark Industries even do scholarships and they’re always looking out for new talent if you want to get the kid into anything like that.”

“I really don’t think that will be something we do,” Harry admitted with a shrug. “Ted loves his robots but I don’t think either of us are ready for something like that.”

Jake decided to take a different route to Harry’s new home rather than the standard quicker one. The new route took them down a quieter street that Jake pulled the car over on.

“That building there,” he said pointing towards the sign ‘Squirts Horizon’. “It is where the magical tutors are for children. They have a floo centre and an apparation point. The building next to it takes you to Crow’s Street. It also acts as an Inn, but I don’t think you’ll be needing that. There is transport into MACUSA, that’s the Magical Congress. It’s all worth an exploration but I don’t think the kid can handle it just yet,” Jake smiled.

“I take it that The Curved Tower has floo and apparation access too?” Harry asked, taking note of the Inn’s name.

“Yes, it’s the easiest to go to if you need to hit Crow’s Street in a hurry,” Jake nodded. “Right, home time for you all I think.”

“I do have a few questions about laws here,” Harry said as Jake started the car up again. “I take it some things will be different here than in Britain.”

“We like to think so,” Jake said honestly and Harry did appreciate that, there was no lying. “The education in Britain is great but you are a bit behind the times on everything non-magical. Squirts was brought about because parents wanted their children to socialise and be able to learn things outside of the home before turning eleven. There are even gifted programs which starts the whole magical education earlier than eleven but those are picked up through the day-care centres. Typically, kids will be dropped off and the parents will shop or do business.”

“It is a good idea,” Harry said. “It lets the kids meet a more diverse group of people.”

“Exactly, we’re coming up to your place. It’s number 48 isn’t it?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, 48. Do you need to go right away?”

“Nope,” Jake said. “I’m here to answer questions and all that.” Jake carefully pulled into the driveway. He parked the car and was out in a flash to take the suitcase from the trunk. Harry was still a little shocked at the kindness that people showed him, the Dursley’s had really done a number on him, he thought bitterly as he climbed out of the passenger seat and opened the back door. In general, Harry was a bit slower in moving. He gently woke Teddy, aware that sooner or later, the child would be fast asleep soon enough.

“We’re here cub,” he said softly as he unbuckled him. “Do you want to go look around?”

Teddy shook his head and gestured for Harry to pick him up again. With a fond shake of his head Harry carried Teddy to the door of the house. He fished around in his pocket and opened the door with the key. The house was bare, moving boxes were scattered around the house, it was planned out that Kreacher would bring them here but not unpack, leaving that job for Teddy and Harry. It did hurt, knowing that it was unlikely that Harry would see Kreacher again, both he and Teddy and said their goodbyes. Kreacher was adamant about a replacement, but Harry didn’t know if he could bear the thought, not after Dobby, or even Kreacher. It just felt too soon, but Harry did agree to talk to a few house elves, if it made Kreacher feel better.

Moving into the front room, a couch was placed in front of the fireplace along with an armchair. It was set up in the same way that it had been back home. _Home_ , Harry was still shocked that he had thought of Grimmauld Place as home. Laying Teddy on the couch, Harry turned back to Jake.

“You can leave that there,” Harry said, an apologetic tone creeping into his voice. “I think the travelling really took it out of him.”

“It seems It. Travelling always takes it out of us,” Jake said moving into the room and sitting on the armchair. “So, questions?”

Harry sat at Teddy’s feet, trying not to jostle Teddy too much. “Magic control, in Britain children couldn’t do magic outside of school but with the tutors and the day-care –”

“As long as no unaware No-Maj’s are present and there is an experienced magical user the child is fine. Family members are more than welcome if they are a No-Maj, but we try not to get the word out too much,” Jake said with a smile. “We restrict wands up to the age of eight but that is due to the intensity of the magic. Under eights are free to practice simple wandless charms. Squirts Horizon can really come in handy for a guide there. I can get in contact with them on your behalf if you’d like. That can lead to an arranged meeting either here or at the centre.”

“That would be good,” Harry admitted. “Also, Teddy is a Metamorphmagus.”

“Wow, he must have good control,” Jake said with wide eyes.

“A friend of mine managed to get suppressing bracelets for when we are out in public,” Harry shrugged. “He doesn’t really like wearing them but he knows that it’s necessary. They’re more versatile than a charm too.”

“Well he’s free to experiment with it, there’s no regulations on it because we can’t track it. We would like to ask that around No-Maj’s it should be minimum and explainable but accidents will be expected. Just remain calm and if necessary contact MACUSA,” Jake explained. “There are Metamorphmagi meetups through Squirts as well, I can get them to pass on more information about those as well.”

“That would be great,” Harry said honestly. “He hasn’t been able to meet anyone else with it and he’s bound to have questions that I won’t know the answer to. Back to what you said,” Harry said suddenly, going back over Jake’s answer in his mind. “If necessary? Can you just explain that a little?”

“Of course,” Jake nodded. “We aren’t as strict with wiping minds, we try to avoid it where possible. Too much can cause uncomfortable reactions and some people are just resilient to it. If it was a stranger, then we urge you to contact us as soon as you can, do not handle it yourself unless you are outright confronted. Ideally, we’ll take a memory and track the person down that way. More often than not, we’ve noticed people will ruminate on what they’ve seen to determine if it was real or a trick their mind played, so we monitor and intervene if we deem it necessary. If it is a family member, we normally leave it up to the family’s choice, so if you felt you could trust, say a brother, then he would be allowed to retain the knowledge and you wouldn’t need to contact us. Same for relationships,” Jake explained. “We know that it’s difficult to maintain such a secret, and I have no doubt that you know how important this is to be kept secret.”

“Yes,” Harry agreed.

“Dad,” Teddy said groggily, interrupting Harry’s continued response.

“Yes, cub?” Harry said, seeing Teddy look at him and rub his eyes again.

“I’m hungry.”

“I think that is my cue to leave,” Jake laughed. “I’ll be in touch about Squirts Horizon, hopefully, they’ll be in touch as well. Remember, The Curved Tower is the quickest and easiest way to Crow’s Street,” Jake said as he pulled out a booklet from his pocket. “This’ll show you how to get there on foot in case you want to walk there.”

“Thank you Jake,” Harry smiled.

“Feel free to be in touch with any questions,” he said. “I’m always open to talk and explain anything.”


	5. A Run In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say a big thank to to all the feedback and attention that this story has gotten. It's amazing. You people are awesome!
> 
>  **Updated 30/12/2017** Nevermind about major changes, this fit in rather nicely together.

Tony Stark was not having a good day. At all. To begin with, he hadn’t slept. At all. He had spent the past 36 hours working in his lab, Bruce had been in a few times but Tony’s mood had soon sent the Doctor back to his own lab. There was just so much to do, and Tony didn’t have any niceties inside of him for anyone threatening to intervene. Then Jarvis had stopped Tony working by telling him that ‘Mr. Roger’s requests you suit up Sir’, Tony didn’t mind that too much, at least this way, Tony had a chance of beating up some bad guys out in the world.

It turns out, the big mission that Captain America needed Tony suited up for was releasing the new toys available for children.

“This is ridiculous,” Tony whined to Bruce, who shifted uneasily as the Avengers stood in front of a toy store. Tony knew that Bruce wasn’t comfortable, the genius was always one to shy away from the public. He always argued that he was useless unless he was the hulk, which Tony had never agreed with, but he understood the man’s need for privacy.

“I can’t believe you agreed to this,” Natasha said, glaring at Steve.

“Director Fury said it was a good idea,” Steve said sheepishly.

“I don’t see why we had to be here,” Clint said.

“Ladies, Gentleman and children!” A loud voice boomed.

Tony rolled his eyes as the children surrounding them cheered. He tuned out the voice as he looked around. Why the Avengers needed to be here to promote children’s toys was beyond him.

“Right, I’ve had enough,” Tony said, “Jarvis, put the suit away.”

The cheering turning into gasps of awes as Ironman disappeared and left Tony, dressed in his t-shirt and jeans. The suit closed up behind him, and Tony heard it blast off, trusting Jarvis to safely deliver it back home.

“Sorry to cut this short but I have to go elsewhere,” Tony smiled before turning and walking down the street. He just wanted to get back into the lab, he needed to finalise the project he was working on, or at least make a somewhat workable version.

Tony sighed, “J, next time run a mission check. I don’t want to be used as a promotion tool aga-”

Tony’s speech was cut short as he walked into someone.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry,” a British voice said.

“It’s no problem,” Tony smiled, looking over the black-haired man. “Really, no problem at all.”

“Teddy! Wait there!” the man shouted towards a child who had continued to walk, not noticing the man’s predicament. “I’m sorry but I need to go grab that kid before he gets himself into trouble.”

Tony was left slightly speechless as the British man rushed past him and down the street. “J, rain check. I’ll finish that thought later.”

Harry Potter had been walking down the street with Teddy as they went to get something to eat when something caught his eye. A figure dressed in black stood across the road. It was watching Harry and Teddy as they walked.

Harry began to feel uneasy as he turned his head to see the figure. He was a second from calling his wand to his hand when he walked into another person who was talking to himself.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry,” Harry said in a rush, quickly looking for the person in black once more, seeing no one Harry saw Teddy continuing to walk ahead.

“It’s no problem,” The American man he had walked into smiled, “really, no problem at all.”

“Teddy! Wait there!” Harry shouted not wanting Teddy to be wandering off after seeing the strange person. Harry glanced at the man he had walked into. He was wearing a dark t-shirt that had a glow in the centre of it, close to his heart. The man also had dark brown nearly black hair as well as a rather strange goatee that Harry doubted would suit many other people.

“I’m sorry but I need to go grab that kid before he gets himself into trouble,” Harry muttered before rushing towards Teddy. Harry thought he heard the man say something as he left but being focused on Teddy, he pushed the thought out of his mind.

“Teddy,” Harry said, slightly breathless as he looked around. “Stay close remember.”

* * *

"Dad,” Teddy said, just before Harry closed his bedroom door.

“What’s up?” Harry asked.

“Tell me a story?”

“Hmm,” Harry thought.

“Can it –” Teddy started to say before stopping himself.

“What was that?” Harry asked as he sat on Teddy’s bed, which was the shape of a race car. Harry always made an effort to listen to what Teddy wanted, maybe explaining why he couldn’t comply with that wish, but ultimately giving the child that attention that Harry had been denied. He wanted Teddy to feel able to go to him, to talk about what he wanted to, no matter what.

“Can it be about my dad?” Teddy asked softly, looking towards the recently framed picture that Harry had given to him during their first talk about his parents. Harry paused momentarily. Teddy hadn’t asked any questions about Remus before, seeming to focus more on Tonks. Harry understood, his own memories of replacing Remus being clear and no doubt Teddy had a similar thought about Harry. All he knew as a dad was Harry, so to suddenly turn and give that title to Remus must be difficult. It did pain Harry to know, but he knew that Teddy was still working out his own thoughts on everything.

“Of course it can, I’ll tell you one of the stories that he told me about when he was younger,” Harry said. “Your father was a group of four fearsome friends. They went round Hogwarts and pulled pranks on the students and the teachers. They became known as the Marauders, they all had their own nicknames. My dad was Prongs, Sirius was Padfoot, Peter was Wormtail and your dad was Moony. They got these names because they figured out how to become animagi whilst they were still in school. Now your dad wasn’t able to become an animagus because he was already able to turn into an animal. Your dad was a werewolf,” Harry said, he smiled as Teddy gasped.

“Now I know that you have heard all the stories from muggles about how werewolves are mean creatures. Even lots of witches and wizards think that, but it isn’t true. Werewolves are only dangerous when they turn, so it is only one night where they are dangerous, otherwise, they are just like you and I,” Harry pointed out.

Teddy nodded as he yawned.

“The Marauders were well known as pranksters, there was one time where they attempted to prank the teachers. It was the Christmas holidays so there weren’t that many students around.  They talked to the house elves in the kitchen and arranged it so the teachers would be given a potion that turned their hair pink. It didn’t work. You dad told me that he thought the elves told the teachers about it and they switched it, so all of the Marauders ended up with pink hair. It lasted until the end of the Christmas holidays.”

Teddy smiled.

“It was your dad that made that potion, working long and hard to get it just right and to make it last so long. He was really smart. Now, you should get some sleep, tomorrow we’ll go exploring a bit before we unpack. Sound good?” Harry asked.

“Night dad.”

“Night cub,” Harry said softly, he placed a kiss on Teddy’s forehead before tucking him in properly. He left the door open an inch, just so he would hear if Teddy needed him.

Almost as soon as Harry bid goodnight to Teddy, he decided to get some sleep himself. Harry’s dream state was not peaceful, he dreamt he was running through a forest. Panic had set in as faint memories of Snatchers running after him and his friends came to mind. After what felt like hours of running, Harry appeared in a clearing. In front of him was a person, one that sent a chill down Harry’s back. The person in black moved forward as Harry woke with a gasp.

Harry woke covered in sweat, his breathing was heavy and irregular. He had almost called for Kreacher before he remembered the deal he had made. Kreacher stay home, retiring back to Grimmauld Place and staying there until he passed. It pained Harry to have the last part of his family leave him but there was little else he could do.

Harry showered, shaking the strange dream from his mind before spending the rest of the early morning unpacking various boxes in the kitchen and in the living room.

It was around eight when Harry's stomach became to growl. Luckily it was also around this time when Teddy awoke. Harry mentally made a note to go food shopping after they explore a bit. At least it will ensure that breakfast is covered in the future.

* * *

For some unexplainable reason, Tony Stark’s concentration was nowhere to be found. Pepper had been and gone with an offering of food, but Tony had waved her away with excuses about his work. In truth, all he was doing was disassembling and reassembling an old piece of equipment he had no need for.

“Sir, Dr. Banner is inquiring about yourself,” Jarvis’ voice said into the room.

“Tell him I’m busy,” Tony said absently.

“Sir, it is unwise to hide away –“

“I’m not hiding. I’m working,” Tony said curtly, cutting the AI off.

“Of course, I apologise for my miscalculation.”

“You should be sorry, claiming I’m hiding down here,” Tony muttered. It was half-hearted, missing his typical snark.

The silence filled the lab once more, as it had done when Tony was tinkering with his equipment.

“Time?”

“It is nine twenty-eight in the morning Sir,” Jarvis responded.

“Coffee sounds good,” Tony thought out loud. “How’s the kitchen looking?”

“Mr. Rogers is currently making cereal and Mr. Barton is seated at the table,” Jarvis reported.

“Coffee _run_ sounds good then,” Tony amended as he moved into the elevator. Tony rode the elevator down into his garage, getting into his Audi R8 Spyder before setting off. He drove fast and his music was loud, only making a move to turn it down when he got to the drive-thru.

Tony was planning on driving around for a bit before heading back to his lab, however, he decided against it. Driving around meant that he would probably head back sooner than he would want to. A large part of him wanted to avoid the rest of the team. He needed time away, just to think. Sure, he could hide away on his floor or in the lab, but there was always someone asking for him. It was decided, he grabbed his coffee and he left his car behind.

Tony was drinking his coffee whilst walking when, for the second time in two days, someone walked into him. The only difference this time was the warm coffee that spilt on both him and the person that walked into him.

 _Really!_ Tony thought bitterly,  _this is stupid._ He didn’t manage to complain out loud before the other person spoke.

“Ew,” a familiar British voice had muttered, causing Tony’s eyes to run over the person in question. The messy black hair almost made him smile. “I’m sorry about this, again.”

“I should be saying sorry,” Tony pointed out. “You’re covering in coffee.”

The British man wrinkled his nose, “I’m aware,” he said as a matter of fact. “But so are you, so no harm done.”

“Still,” Tony said with a smile. “I owe you this time, especially since you haven’t run away yet.”

“Harry,” Harry said, holding his free hand out, trying to ignore the fact that his cheeks felt warm.

“Tony,” it was said with a smirk as Tony took the man’s hand and shook it. “I really should get you cleaned up.”

“It’s ok, we live not far from here. I can easily run back and get changed,” Harry said nervously, he let go of Teddy’s hand and wiping it on his trousers.

“Then after that, I can make it up to you,” Tony said firmly. “Where was it that you were planning on going?”

“We were going to eat, weren’t we cub?” Harry said, touching Teddy’s shoulder again, letting the child know it was ok to talk.

“We were going to get pancakes,” Teddy said quietly.

“Pancakes?” Tony asked, seeing Harry’s nod. “Well, I know a great place for pancakes.”

“Really?” Teddy asked.

“Yep,” Tony said, popping the ‘p’.

“Let’s head back so I can get into something a bit less coffee covered then,” Harry said, taking Teddy’s hand. Harry didn’t know exactly what possessed him to let this American know where he lived. There was just something about him that felt _normal_ , or as normal as Harry thought possible. “You ok following Tony?”

“More than ok,” the American said smugly. “Are you here on holiday?” he asked as they began walking back the way that Harry had come.

“No, recently moved,” Harry said. “We needed a change of scenery and I had heard promising things about the area.”

“Promising? First I’ve heard,” Tony mused.

“It has some good programmes that this annoyance can get in,” Harry said with a laugh. “It gives him more of a chance to meet children like him. England wasn’t that well adapted.”

“See, I’ve heard more promising things about the education in England,” Tony said.

“I’ve heard that as well but being through that system,” Harry paused slightly, looking towards Tony. “It was more dangerous than I would have liked.”

“Dangerous how?”

“Dragons and evil teacher,” Harry said seriously, Teddy giggled as Tony raised an eyebrow.

“Evil teachers I believe but dragons _have_ to be imagined.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Harry said with a laugh. It was nice for him to talk without ‘Harry Potter’ being an issue or even worrying about magical means being taken seriously. Harry had learnt over the past few years that if he slipped up with his speech or if he said something a muggle wouldn’t understand, that would normally be taken as a joke and laughed off.

Harry led Tony to his new house. As Harry opened the door a disgruntled owl flew out of the house, leaving Harry stood with an open mouth and Tony swore and ducked.

“What the hell?”

“How did Pig get in the house dad?”

“I honestly don’t know cub,” Harry said slowly.

“Pig?” Tony asked incredulously. “That was no pig!”

Harry snorted, “No. Pig is a friend’s owl. He was taught to send letters.”

“Do you have a phone? Remind me to get you a phone,” Tony said, not pausing for Harry’s response as he shook his head.


	6. Lego Towns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated 30/12/2017

Tony sat on the couch, looking around the half-empty room. It was a strange occurrence. He didn’t know what had come over him and now, now he was sat in a stranger’s house with a kid opposite him, and _that_ was something that Tony tried to avoid. He didn’t trust himself around kids, it was just a little worrisome for him. Tony hadn’t had the best role models in the adults around him, his parents were out and about for most of his childhood, Obie turned out to be a traitor and Jarvis – well, Jarvis was his only positive male role model. Tony didn’t quite think he could pull off being a Jarvis to someone though, he knew that he would end up being a _Howard_ , someone that hid away in the lab, drunk and short-tempered, not exactly father material or a role model.

The kid –  _Teddy_ , Tony reminded himself. Teddy was playing with some toys, ones that he had just pulled from a box labelled ‘Room Toys’, which seemed self-explanatory even if it did confuse Tony, but then, he gathered, not everyone had such strict rules on where _childish toys_ could reside. Tony watched with a reluctant smile as the kid was struggling to build with the Lego he had chosen. Tony was never a real fan of children, they were normally loud and annoying. Added to the fact that he didn’t feel like he could be trusted, they were just something he didn’t particularly enjoy.

Tony sighed internally before moving onto the floor next to Teddy and asking what he was trying to make. He should make an effort, he knew that he would properly get a little frustrated just watching the kid struggle.

“A castle.”

“Well, let’s see what we can do,” Tony smiled gently, looking into the Lego box. Tony had never had Lego to play with, he knew the general idea behind it though. The blocks stick together and you can make different things out of them, it wasn’t a difficult thing to understand.

Teddy helped Tony move the contents of the box onto the floor so they could find pieces easier. Tony spending a little more time doing so than Teddy as he was looking at the different pieces. It was rather ingenious, the way that it worked, it helped build up fine motor skills. Tony could see the appeal, especially as Teddy devoted himself into what he was doing.

“So, kid. Harry’s your dad?” Tony asked carefully.

“Yeah,” Teddy nodded as he attempted to fit two pieces together.

“Where’s your mom?” Tony asked, setting the base of the castle together and placing it on the floor. He could build up from the foundation, looking over, Teddy seemed to be working on something different.

“She’s dead,” Teddy said softly. “Her and dad.”

“Sorry,” Tony said, feeling slightly awkward, realising that this child was more than likely adopted.

“It’s ok,” Teddy said brightly. “Dad’s here and he’s really nice.”

“I bet he is,” Tony agreed, moving his mind back to the Lego task at hand. Even from a moment of seeing them, Tony couldn’t help but feel a little wistful for what could have been, Harry had kept hold of Teddy’s hand, the child not even trying to stray away as they walked. It was an easiness and Tony didn’t normally see out and about, it was typically kids running wild.

Elsewhere, Harry was changing his top. He had felt hesitant to leave Teddy alone with the man he had just met but there was something about Tony that made Harry trust him. There was something he couldn’t identify there. It was a little unnerving, especially since Harry was normally on edge, even around people he had known for years.

Harry shook his head, he had a child to care for.  _Teddy was priority number one, no getting swept away with new people_ , Harry told himself sternly. A soft traitorous voice in the back of Harry’s mind felt the need to point out how attractive the American was, which made Harry groan to himself.

He shook his head and silenced the soft voice. Harry picked up the four letters that were left on his bed. One was written on with Hermione’s small yet neat writing. Another held Ron’s rushed scrawl. The other two were unrecognisable to Harry. Deciding to leave the letters from Ron and Hermione for later Harry opened the first letter and skimmed through the contents.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_On behalf of the people at Squirts Horizon, we would be honoured to meet with yourself and your son at a time that suits you. Having heard encouraging things from our correspondence with Mr. Eastman we now eagerly await your response._

_If it is agreeable we do have a free hour tomorrow morning from 10 am. If possible we can meet then and discuss your wishes from us concerning your son. If tomorrow doesn’t work, considering you have only just moved into the area. We would be more than willing to have someone meet you over the next week._

_Wishing you all the best,_

_Elizabeth Walker_

_Head of Squirts Horizons_

Harry smiled to himself. The letter was professional, kind and welcoming. He quickly pulled a piece of parchment and wrote a polite response stating that tomorrow at 10 am would be perfect.

The next letter held leaflets; one titled ‘ _So you’re child changes their appearance!_ ’ and another read ‘ _Moving to the USA – Best Idea Ever!_ ’, the last leaflet was simply titled ‘ _Magical Guide_ ’. Harry sniggered at the titles before turning to the letter.

_Mr. Potter,_

_I’ve included some leaflets that might help you during the next few weeks. They are a bit outdated and more suitable for the younger and less knowledgeable people that move here but they may come in handy. The others thought they were too relaxed for the MACUSA’s image._

_I got in contact Squirts Horizon yesterday, they mentioned they would be in touch, however, if you don’t hear from them feel free to pop in yourself and ask for some information. Also, if you need anything else (anything at all!) you can get in touch with me._

_In reference to my contract, I will be in touch in around a week to see how you are settling in. If you have any questions about the city, we are here to help._

_Sincerely Jake Eastman_

_International Relations from MACUSA_

Harry shook his head with a fond smile, Jake reminded him a bit of Ron.  _I’ll reply to that later_ , Harry decided. That way he could thank the man in a better way than a quick note.

He moved back to where he had left Teddy and Tony and found them creating a town with Lego. Harry watched with a smile as they continued to discuss where they princesses horse stable should go.

“It should be near the castle,” Tony reasoned.

“But princesses like to ride through the forest!” Teddy stubbornly demanded.

“But why would the stable be that far away from the castle?”

“If the stable is too far away the princess will have a long walk to get her horse,” Harry pointed out, making Tony jump. Harry knew how stubborn Teddy could be when he didn’t think things through as much as an adult might, so offering another perspective often helped him out.

Teddy contemplated this information before nodding. “I guess that’s right.”

Tony stared at Harry, the t-shirt that he had put on was tighter than the one he was previously wearing. Harry shifted under Tony’s gaze aware that his Quidditch days were over and childcare had been the primary concern.

“Ready to go?” Tony asked.

“Momentarily,” Harry said with a faint blush rising in his cheeks. “I need to catch Pig before we leave.”

“Ok, go catch the flying pig and we’ll be right here,” Tony smirked to himself as he turned back to Teddy and said. “So the stable goes near the castle but where will the Avengers live?”

Before Harry could stop himself he had asked the question; “Avengers?”

“You know, America’s greatest superheroes,” Tony said, shooting Harry a wink.

Harry shook his head, “I shouldn’t have asked. I’m going to get the owl.”

Tony paused in his actions, not quite believing what he had heard. If he didn’t hear the British man’s tone he would have thought what Harry had said what a mockery against Tony’s obsession with the Avengers. Instead, if Tony went with his gut feeling, this man had no idea who the Avengers were.

 _Impossible!_  Tony thought firmly. The whole world knew of the new band of superheroes.  _Then again…_ neither Harry nor Teddy had reacted to him. Tony Stark was not an unknown man! He had shrugged the thought off when he had run into them, it just felt impossible, and Tony didn’t like impossible.

Teddy frowned slightly at Tony, the man had sat there for a while, not saying anything and not moving. What happened to their project?

After a gentle nudge from Teddy, Tony rearranged his frown to a neutral expression and went back to building a replica of his tower.

Harry left the house, just standing in front of the door. He sighed, reminding himself that Teddy was still a rather young child and that now wasn’t a good time to get swept away by a little attention, no matter how good it felt. It had been a while since he felt wanted in a way that wasn’t due to fame or fortune. Sure, there had been Ginny, but they both knew it wouldn’t work out, as much as either of them had wanted it, it wasn’t realistic. They wanted different things. Tony – maybe because he had no idea, maybe it was because he was only interested in _Harry_.

Pigwidgeon flew over to Harry, who put his arm out for the owl to land on.

“Can you do me a favour? I need a letter delivering to an Elizabeth Walker, she works at a day-care centre near here. I’ll have a letter for Ron and Hermione later tonight but this one is rather important. I’ll have some treats and water ready for when you get back and you can just camp out in my house until I get back,” Harry said. Pig gave a small hoot and took the note from Harry before taking off.

Harry quietly made his way back into the house and put a bowl on the kitchen table, trying not to make too much noise to attract his visitor. Harry quickly summoned water into the bowl and Accio-ed some owl treats out of one of the boxes. Had Harry been paying more attention to his actions, he may have realised that the wand he had just used was not his normal one. The wand he quickly put back into his holster was rather different to his normal holly wand, this one had rather unique clusters running down its length resembling elderberries.

* * *

Tony had taken Harry and Teddy to a local diner, telling them that a stay in New York was never complete until you had eaten at several certain food chains and restaurants.

“So what is it that you do Harry?” Tony asked as Teddy dug into his pancakes.

“I spent some time furthering my education,” Harry said. “I never had time for a job with having Teddy right after school.”

“What did you study?” Tony asked, eager to learn more about the strange British man. Maybe it was a British thing?

“I did quite a bit of medicine and defensive work,” Harry shrugged. It was true, he had focused on that during his extra reading, he needed something to do when Teddy was sleeping, especially when he realised that Andromeda was less likely to return. “I considered working in the force or in a hospital type of place,” Harry confessed. He still considered it, leaning more towards a medical profession, he doubted he could stick to fighting, he was already too paranoid.

“A big fan of keeping people safe?” Tony asked, before taking a bite of his blueberry pancakes.

“Something like that,” Harry smiled. “My friend says I have a saving people thing.”

“Hmm,” Tony nodded, still eating.

“What do you do Tony?” Harry asked politely.

Tony coughed, his mind drawing a blank once again in Harry’s presence. What _did_ he actually do? “I’m the heir of Stark Industries officially. I tend to tinker with what interests me mostly.”

Harry nodded along with Tony’s words. Jake’s words from the previous day came to mind.  _“That’s the head of Stark Industries. The guy that runs the place is a genius. The things that man can do with No-Maj technology is amazing. He’s about as well known in the No-Maj world as you are in the wizarding world.”_

“Tell me about Stark Industries?” Harry prompted, wanting to learn more about the man across from him.

“Ok,” Tony said, slightly taken-aback, it was rare someone asked that question and truly _wanted_ to know about it. “The company was a weapon and technology company that my father founded during the Second World War. Once my father passed away, the company became mine. It grew as a weapon manufacturer and it branched into other fields like aeronautics, robotics, micro-technology and fringe science,” Tony trailed off. “You really want to hear all this?”

“Yeah, it’s interesting,” Harry said, he did truly find it fascinating. “Can I ask what aeronautics and fringe science is?”

“Of course, Aeronautics is the study of flight. So Stark Industries went into developing aircrafts. Fringe science is a bit more complicated to explain. It is normally classed as any scientific inquiry which goes against conventional theories or practices,” Tony explained.

“Do you make robots?” Teddy asked, his mouth empty of food. He had heard the word ‘science’, and he knew that science made robots.

Tony chuckled, “I have been known to. I don’t make that many lately but yes. Robots are certainly in my capability.”

“Careful, otherwise you’ll never get rid of him,” Harry stage-whispered.

“It’s no problem,” Tony smiled, the kid was growing on him, as crazy as that thought was.

“Is Stark Industries still making weapons?” Harry gently probed.

“God no, not for wide use anyway,” Tony said adamantly. “I came to a realisation that those weapons were doing no good. I changed my focus to clean energy and advancing simpler technology. I wasn’t joking about getting you a phone you know. I do have my own line of them.”

“I couldn’t accept something like that,” Harry said, stopping Tony from continuing. “I am glad you stopped making the weapons though. They can be useful in the right hands but having them so readily available makes everything more dangerous. It’s harder to keep track of such things.”

“What’s your plans for the rest of the day?” Tony asked suddenly, leaning forward.

“Oh, we were planning on looking around. Then we really should go some decent grocery shopping,” Harry said, slightly shocked.

“Well then! I think shopping should be done first because that is the boring part and I certainly can’t leave you to suffer through that all on your own,” Tony said gravely, a hand moving to cover his chest.

“Tony, it’s no problem really. We can manage,” Harry tried to protest but Tony’s half protesting huff made him laugh.

Considering that as a win, Tony sat back smugly in his chair and waited for Teddy and Harry to finish their food.


	7. Prototype B7 and Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated 30/12/2017

Shopping with Tony was a strange experience, to say the least. This man was strangely fascinated by the process of it and the choices available to him.

“Have you ever been shopping before?” Harry had asked in amusement at the man’s antics. That amusement left when Tony had sheepishly admitted that he hadn’t shopped in a supermarket before. Tony’s ‘Famous remember’ was all that was given as an explanation. Harry couldn’t quite get rid of the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach after Tony had admitted that, it reminded him of a younger boy, one that gazed in wonder at everything around him, much as Tony was currently doing. It was easy to forget that some people didn’t have those simple things, even when he had gone through that himself.

Harry had taken over the shopping once more after that announcement. He had demoted Tony’s role to pushing the trolley whilst Harry went ahead and collected the ingredients and produce that he wanted.

Teddy sat in the trolley, taking the items that Harry passed him and placing them next to him. Soon, between Harry and Teddy’s insistence on certain snacks and meal requests, the trolley was full. The paying process was slow due to the number of items that Harry had picked up, a home delivery was arranged and Harry paid by card.

Having gone into the muggle world a lot whilst in London, Harry had eventually spoken to the Goblins about opening an account within the muggle world. It had been agreed that the account would be run through Gringotts but then funnelled through a collection of half-bloods or muggle-born witches and wizards that were stationed in London for accounting issues that arose. Harry’s account was continuously topped up when money was withdrawn.

After the shopping experience, Tony had received a phone call.

“Idiot,” Tony had muttered after hanging up the phone. “I have to cut this short.”

“Something wrong?” Harry asked.

“A little bird blew something up in the tower,” Tony said with annoyance.

“Whoa,” Teddy whispered.

“I was going to show you around,” Tony pointed out. “You could come back to the tower and wait until it’s sorted?”

“No, if something blew up then it will probably take a while to fix,” Harry pointed out. It wasn’t as if Tony had the ability to fix something with the wave of a wand.

Tony sighed, mentally cursing Clint.

“Alright, but I will make it up to you,” Tony promised.

“Don’t worry about it,” Harry said with a smile.

“See you soon kid,” Tony had said to Teddy before leaving.

Tony’s departure had caused the two to deflate somewhat. Harry was a little more upset than he wanted to admit, he didn’t want to keep his hopes up that Tony would return, it was better to ignore it than to be disappointed. The fatigue of travelling and moving hit Harry harder than Teddy, Harry’s nightmare probably didn’t help the issue. Feeling the jet-lag, Harry took Teddy back to their house.

* * *

“What the hell did you do?” Tony asked Clint, slightly awestruck due to the hole in the ground.

“What the hell did you do?” Tony asked Clint, slightly awestruck due to the hole in the ground.

“I was trying out some new arrows,” Clint shrugged.

“It was unwise to do so alone,” Steve pointed out. “What if they weren’t finished? Or if something worse happened?”

“I didn’t expect it to blow up!” Clint said exasperatedly.

“What arrow was it?” Tony asked tensely.

“Prototype B7,” Clint said sheepishly.

“Pro – I told you the other day that I wasn’t finished with that birdbrain!” Tony fumed.

“You were working for the past few days! How was I meant to know you weren’t done yet?”

“Maybe wait until I tell you I’m done?” Tony said sarcastically. He turned on his heel and started to walk away, leaving Steve to continue starting disappointingly at Clint. “Jarvis. Arrange contractors and get that fixed.”

“On it Sir,” Jarvis responded promptly.

Instead of making his typical route to his own lab, Tony changed directions and made his way to Bruce’s lab, all the while muttering under his breath on how best to catch a bird and hurt them.

“Brucie!” Tony called as he entered the lab, forced cheer in his tone. “Just the man I wanted to see!”

“I guess that’s why you came here,” Bruce said warily, standing up straight from the table he had previously been bent over working at.

“What you working on?”

“Fury wanted to see if anyone can come up with a way to dull the effects of Loki’s magic. We still have samples of that sceptre that he had after all,” Bruce shrugged. “No one really knows where to start or what theories might work.”

“It’s all guesswork right now,” Tony nodded. “If they are classing it as magic then it leaves us all a bit more behind. Theories of magic date back a long way and there was nothing in there about stopping it. That sceptre could just have been a form of technology though. Which would be more in our area.”

“ _Your_ area,” Bruce corrected automatically. “They asked me to look at what they have so far. I am shocked they haven’t asked you,” Bruce said.

“Eh, I make weapons. Give me possible future technology and I’ll run a mile with it and improve it,” Tony pointed out. “Speaking of which, I ran into a few people today.”

“You run into people all the time,” Bruce pointed out, going back to his reading.

“Yes, people that recognise me,” Tony agreed. “These people, in particular, didn’t recognise me, my name or the Avengers.”

“What?” Bruce asked, the reading forgotten as he stared at Tony, out of everything he expected it hadn’t been that.

“Exactly. No reaction to my face or my name. Hell, Stark Industries didn’t give him a brainwave!” Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“That is unusual, but why does it matter?” Bruce asked, watching his friend closely.

“It doesn’t,” Tony pouted. “I just couldn’t believe it. After everything here, the Avengers aren’t exactly unknown.”

“Neither are you,” Bruce agreed, guessing that it was more _Tony_ than the Avengers that had hurt him.

“My point precisely,” Tony said, throwing his hands up. “There wasn’t even a reaction from the kid!”

“Kid?”

“Yes, Teddy. We made a town,” Tony said offhanded, a frown falling onto his face again. “I don’t understand how they didn’t know any of us.”

“You made a town?” Bruce asked, blinking a few times. He decided against questioning Tony further, it never really gave him answers he wanted. “Ok, so they are a bit out of touch. It doesn’t impact you that much Tony.”

“A bit out of touch,” Tony repeated doubtfully. “I need to get him a phone,” Tony said, making Bruce stare at him with an open mouth. “He had a pig delivering letters.”

“A what?”

“Well, he called it a pig. It was a small flying thing,” Tony amended waving his hands. “I can’t let that go on. It’s medieval.”

“Tony,” Bruce groaned.

“What? I was going to go show them around the city but then birdbrain blew a hole in my floor,” Tony grumbled.

“Tony,” Bruce said louder. “Don’t go harassing people.”

“As if I ever would do such a thing Brucie,” Tony said in a light tone as he turned to leave again. “I have a phone to make.”

“Tony!” Bruce called after the frustrating genius.

* * *

Harry was woken early the next morning from a dream similar to the previous night. This time he had stayed sleep long enough to hear a raspy voice whisper; “do not fear me.”

Harry had spent the morning cooking various foods, making enough to freeze for later dates. Harry had learnt early on that bulk cooking and freezing these homemade meals could suit two or three different meals, ideal for days that were rushed. Of course, Teddy ended up having a heavy breakfast than normal due to the excessive cooking on Harry’s part.

“Mr. Potter,” a woman said as he entered Squirts Horizon, Teddy squeezed Harry’s hand slightly as he looked around the room. The room they were in was a pale yellow with green flooring.

“That’s me, this is Teddy,” Harry said, lifting the boy’s hand with his own.

“Hi Teddy,” the woman smiled. “I’m Elizabeth, a lot of the children around here just call me Liz though. Everyone that works here was so happy to hear from you,” Liz said, turning her attention back to Harry.

“I’m shocked we were able to get a meeting so quickly,” Harry admitted. “If it wasn’t for Jake then we may have waited another week or two.”

Liz nodded, “we hear that a lot,” she said. “Moving is stressful and most first-time parents don’t know when or where they can get help.”

“I was aware that there were programmes like this here, it was why I chose New York,” Harry said as Liz pointed him to the black couch. Teddy sat next to Harry as Liz sat opposite them. “I want Teddy to have more freedom to be himself, which includes exploring magic before eleven.”

“Well, depending on what you want, I can try to offer the best programme to suit both of you,” Liz smiled. “Feel free to just explain what you are looking for and Teddy,” Liz said, addressing the child. “You can say anything you want to as well.”

“Yesterday Jake mentioned that you can help Teddy practice wandless magic,” Harry said. Not knowing where else to start.

“We can, we mainly teach harmless charms that can help children focus on their magical energy. We found that by teaching this at a young age the children grow more attuned to different magical sources around them. They are more likely to feel magic, so to speak,” Liz said. She cupped her hands together and closed her eyes, soon enough a small cluster of flames sat in her palm.

Opening her eyes again, she smiled at Teddy’s shocked look.

“That is one of the easiest to teach children. It helps them find their core and pull their intentions from it, if you would Mr. Potter,” Liz said waving to Harry.

“What?” Harry asked, staring dumbfounded at the woman.

“Cup your hands like I did,” she said, smiling wider as Harry did whilst shooting her a disbelieving look. “Now, close your eyes and focus on your magic,” Liz’s voice became softer as she talked to Harry. “Your magic lives in you, it is always bubbling away under your skin and it flows around your whole body. Follow the sensation, it runs from your hands to your arms and up your arms to your chest. Most people can experience a tingly sensation within their chest, this is where a person’s magical core is. Feel that feeling and pull from it. Visualise what you want, see your hands, picture a fire within them. Picture the colour and the way the flames move.”

Liz smiled wider as Harry did as he was told. “Now, without losing that picture, open your eyes slowly,” she said.

Harry again, did as he was told and was astonished to find flames, much like the ones Liz had, crackling away in his hands.

“Wow,” Harry said.

“It’s beneficially for children,” Liz said.

Harry could see why. Having the feeling pointed out to him, he could feel the slight vibrations in his chest from his magic. There was a slight electrical charge to the room, it felt amazing.

“Children take a little longer to pick up on it. The feeling is one that can be difficult to spot,” Liz confessed. “I took a guess that you would be able to identify it easily. Making the flames warmer and colder are good ways to fine-tune your magic to your intentions. Even changing the colours produced.”

“That is brilliant,” Harry said with a smile.

“There are more things along those lines that are taught whilst children are here. We are continuously using different activities to improve children’s connection to their magic. We encourage parents to do the same as well.”

“I also want Teddy to have a mixture of magical and muggle – No Maj,” he quickly corrected himself, remembering Jake, “education, I want him well adapted to both worlds,” Harry said.

“We do have an ongoing programme, much like the school system. Maths, English and Science are taught most days. There are a collection of parents that have your own wishes. Our typical schooling system takes children around the age of four up to eleven and it teaches No-Maj disciplines along with magical control and theory,” Liz said. “We do also do the magical classes during weekends as well, for those that prefer their children to be in an actual school.”

“Ideally, I would Teddy to be able to be himself most of the time, so an actual school wouldn’t be ideal. His metamorphic abilities would make that difficult,” Harry pointed out.

“Of course! I knew I was forgetting something,” Liz laughed. “Ok, so the schooling system we have here is much like the typical one. There are differences, of course, we began at ten and end at three-thirty. Lunch is provided at parent’s choice. Depending the age of the child depends on the typical day plan. Younger children, which Teddy will be in, have a lot more free time rather than focused learning. The free time allows them to be separately approached by the tutors here and taught control and meditation since that is the more difficult to teach.”

“Meditation makes it easier to learn occlumency right?” Harry asked, having come to that conclusion himself previously. It was one of the only things that had worked with him, and it had taken a lot of time and frustration.

“It does, it helps with emotion control as well. We don’t provide occlumency here, that is more for parents to personally take control over, since we cannot guarantee how the child in question will react,” Liz said.

“That’s fair,” Harry said with a nod. “Is there anything you want to know Teddy?”

“Can I do that fire thing?” Teddy asked enthusiastically, making Harry smile.


	8. Pizza Prep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated 01/01/2018

A few days passed for both Harry and Tony. Tony spent the time in his lab working on various different jobs he had ongoing as well as helping Bruce when he could. News of figuring out the sceptre took priority in Tony’s mind, even when Bruce urged him to focus on more important things. The chaos that Loki had managed to create was just too devastating to leave open to attack again. What Tony really needed to help him along though, was the sceptre, even just a scan of it would help him and Bruce narrow down some of their ideas. It was one recent day that Bruce, who had come to talk to Tony about his thoughts on the sceptre, had found the man working on a phone.

“Really Tony?” Bruce had sighed. After getting no response Bruce poked Tony’s side, much like the man had done to him when they first met. It was a little strange to Bruce, how much he had fit with Tony, how much of an _act_ Tony put on around the world that just melted in his lab. Tony was more down to earth in his lab, even in the Helicarrier, Tony’s personality had dissolved somewhat, not to the extent it did at his own private lab, but it was enough to give Bruce an insight. It showed him that Tony _wasn’t_ just what he claimed he was, there was a lot more to him. “You’re actually doing this for some stranger?”

“He isn’t just a stranger,” Tony said defiantly.

“Who is he then?”

“He’s Harry,” Tony said, as if that name explained everything. Perhaps that was the most worrisome of all, never had Bruce known Tony to do something without reason. Even if it was the simplest of things, now Bruce did half expect Tony to openly admit he wanted to have sex with this stranger, just something more than his name.

“Tony. This isn’t like you,” Bruce pointed out.

“Just forget it,” Tony muttered, focusing his attention back on the phone in front of him. Bruce couldn’t help but watch with a sense of worry, unsure of just what Tony was getting himself into and how much the man might fall because of it.

Meanwhile, Harry and Teddy spent the time unpacking and taking short trips to Squirts Horizon to help settle Teddy in. It had been agreed with Liz, through ongoing communications, that Teddy would attend the time scheduled for the Metamorphmagi next week before considering any full time studying with the centre.

Whilst Teddy enjoyed the freedom of Squirts Horizon, he still enjoyed his outings into the muggle world. He especially loved the local park, it had swings, slides and even a climbing frame, which wasn’t available to him back in England.

Harry would watch fondly as Teddy interacted with the children around him. It was something that Harry was immensely glad of, that Teddy didn’t struggle to socialise with strangers. Sure, it did raise an issue, but Teddy was rarely out of Harry’s sight.

“Dad!” Teddy ran over to Harry calling. “Can we go onto the grass?” Teddy was still bouncing as he asked Harry.

“Why?” Harry asked, not letting his amusement show at the child’s excitement.

“Luke wanted to play a game with a football,” Teddy said quickly, looking back over to the boy in reference. The boy was slightly older than Teddy, he stood with a woman, who Harry presumed was his mother.

“I suppose. We need to head back soon remember though,” Harry reminded Teddy. “We need to get some things from the shop.”

“Ok! Thanks!” Teddy yelled as he ran back to his new friend.

Harry sat his eyelids drooping slightly, his dreams had not stopped. Harry was feeling the effect of the disrupted sleep, having not slept this badly since Teddy turned two and had his own bout of night terrors that kept him up for days at a time. When Harry opened his eyes again, an icy feeling crept up his spine. Looking over towards Teddy, Harry saw a figured dressed in a black cloak once again.

“Teddy!” Harry called, glad that Teddy was putting more distance between himself and the person in order to see what Harry wanted. Ideally, Harry wanted to disapparate, to move and get away from whatever it was haunting him, but he couldn’t. Not without Teddy and not around muggles. “I think we need to go. We have to go to the shop remember,” Harry was happy that the nervousness he felt didn’t reach his voice.

Harry led Teddy into town, stopping at a butchers to collect a variety of meat for the next week. Whilst Teddy had not inherited his father’s lycanthropy he did inherit a few traits of lycanthropy. The week around the full moon, Teddy grew a fondness of meat filled meals. Teddy also spent the day before and after the full moon being incredibly fatigued and irritable. Harry had to keep in mind that with the move into New York, the jet-lag added to the effects of the full moon may impact upon Teddy’s reactions.

Leaving the butchers, Harry thought he saw a flash of a black robe across the street.

“Come on Teddy,” Harry said softly, he didn’t want to draw too much attention to him or Teddy, especially not if they were being followed. Continuing to look around them on their way home, Harry grew more paranoid every time he saw a dark colour blur past him. Harry felt a growing sense of relief as they approached home. A few more moments and they would be safe from strange people in black robes.

Harry paused momentarily as he came closer to the house. He could see something sat on his doorstep, in a moment of horror Harry imagined it to be the person who was following them. Taking a few hesitant steps towards his house, Harry mental prepared himself for a fight. He was prepared to draw out his wand, to push Teddy behind him and do his best to keep them both safe.

“Tony?” Harry sighed in relief, seeing the figure clearer. A small margining of tension left him, he relaxed his stance, stopping himself from calling his wand out as Tony looked up, a wide smile on his face.

“Harry! Teddy!” Tony said happily, jumping up from the floor.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked, passing a light bag over to Teddy and getting his keys. Harry really hoped that the shakiness he felt didn’t show in his voice. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through him, and he knew he was going to crash soon.

“I promised you a phone remember,” the genius smiled, taking the bag that Harry had automatically held out for him.

“Tony –” Harry started.

“It’s a newer version. It will probably need an upgrade soon, it has all the contacts you need, fast food and myself of course,” Tony continued to ramble, ignoring Harry’s attempts to cut him off. “I made it myself so it will be a decent one. Probably won’t break unless you run it over or jump on it. I don’t recommend that -”

“Tony,” Harry said firmly, pushing Tony out of the way slightly, the person in black long forgotten amongst Tony’s long-winded speech. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“I know. I just don’t like the fact you don’t have one,” Tony said sheepishly, following Harry into the house.

“That is my choice Tony,” Harry sighed. He wasn’t all that annoyed, which didn’t make sense to him. Maybe this was normal? It didn’t feel normal in the slightest. “Why does it matter to you?”

“Well, honestly I was planning on getting your number and wooing you,” Tony said without missing a beat.

“What?” Harry squawked. Tony sent him a wink as he walked past the now frozen man, towards the kitchen, making Harry blush a deep red. Harry’s mind ran blank, no thoughts coming to his aid until Teddy tugged on Harry’s coat before handing the bag back to him.

“Can I go play?” Teddy asked, holding the lighter bag out that he had been holding for Harry to open the door.

“Of course you can, you wanted pizza for dinner?” Harry double checked, taking the bag from Teddy.

“Yep! With everything on!” Teddy enthused.

“Perfect,” Harry said. “You can go play.”

With a happy yell, Teddy ran upstairs.

Harry slowly made his way into the kitchen, he smiled at the sight of Tony with his head in the fridge. Maybe it was the knowledge of Tony being a muggle? Or even the fact that Tony seemed truly harmless? Sure he was a _little_ much and he was focused on getting what he wanted, but that wasn’t too bad.

“Looking for something?” Harry asked, raising his voice slightly.

Tony looked back at Harry before going back to the fridge. “Seeing what you had in,” he admitted with a grin.

“You normally get away with doing what you want, don’t you?” Harry pointed out, laughing slightly as Tony nodded and closed the fridge door. “Well, in payment for skipping out on us the other day and poking your nose around my kitchen you can help cook.”

“Excuse you?” Tony said, slightly stunned.

“You’re going to help me cook,” Harry replied.

“I don’t cook,” Tony said quickly.

“You do today,” Harry laughed at Tony’s pout.

“The last time I cooked I almost burnt the house down,” Tony reasoned. “I was banned from cooking. You don’t want me to cook.”

“Just follow what I say, you’ll be fine,” Harry reasoned, he was a little unsure where this newly found courage came from, but Harry winked at Tony before emptying the bags that he brought back.

“What are you planning on making?” Tony asked with a resigned tone of voice.

“Pizza, one of the simplest things to make from scratch.”

“From scratch!” Tony repeated with a worried voice.

“It’s easy,” Harry said with a chuckle. “Your job is to just put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into the bowl,” Harry said as he went to pull a chopping board from the cupboard.

“Ok, measurements?” Tony asked, looking at the packet of flour.

“Erm, three-hundred and seventy-five grams of flour. There should be a set of scales on the table,” Harry said, slightly distracted as he set his area up to cut the meat and peppers.

“Three-hundred and seventy-five grams,” Tony said, he didn’t quite know what that meant, but the scales on the table was already set up for a ‘g’ measurement, which Tony assumed was the right one. He took care, gently tipping the flour out into the measuring cup.

Harry shook his head at the man as he began preparing the toppings for the pizza. The two worked together quietly, Tony only speaking to question the measurements for the ingredients and Harry responded calmly, keeping an eye on Tony as he prepared the pizza toppings.

“You seem very meat focused today,” Tony said out of the blue as finished adding what Harry had told him to. “I didn’t get that vibe the other day.” Harry and Teddy had both wanted fruit with their pancakes, and even when they were shopping, there was very little meat products bought.

“In all honesty we don’t go meat heavy a lot. It is normally about a week a month,” Harry admitted.

“Why?” Tony was honestly curious. He had never shied away from eating what he wanted and he didn’t quite understand Harry on this.

“Teddy normally doesn’t handle overly meaty meals too well,” Harry admitted carefully, he knew that this was a tricky subject to edge around, but he knew that explaining something with confidence normally made people believe you, it was something Uncle Vernon and sworn upon. “It’s around this time of month that he gets a real craving for it though, so we indulge then. It makes it easier on him.”

Tony shot a curious look towards Harry, he had never heard of anything that Harry had described before. The story itself sounded like a cover up but Harry had said it with such conviction, perhaps it wasn’t the full truth but some portion of it.

“You need to add two tablespoons of olive oil and the water in that jug,” Harry said with a nod to where the jug was. “Then mix it until it goes doughy.”

Tony did as instructed, keeping an eye on Harry and he moved to the sink to wash the knife he had been using.

“Think it’s done,” Tony said to Harry, who came over to check the dough.

“It looks good, I said you’d be fine,” Harry teased.

A cheeky smile grew on Tony’s face, half please at the praise and half annoyed at the tone Harry had used. Slowly, he dipped his hand into the flour that was left out and flicked it at Harry.

“Tony!”

Soon a flour fight had broken out. Harry had retaliated with more flour than Tony had used. A huge smile on his face as he lost himself into the childishness of the act.

“Oh no you didn’t,” Tony threatened half-heartedly. He took a step towards Harry, more flour in his hand as Harry laughed and ran out of his reach. The two chased each other around the kitchen, each giggling as they attacked each other with flour. It continued until Harry and Tony collided and fell to the floor. Harry laughed breathlessly as the flour settled in Tony’s hair.

“You have flour on your cheek,” Harry whispered, a little afraid to break the spell and bring reality crashing down on them. He lifted his hand to touch Tony’s cheek. This action did nothing to rid Tony’s cheek of flour, it only smeared more flour onto his cheek.

“Sorr-“

Tony’s mouth had touched his. Almost as soon as their lips had touched, Tony withdrew.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured, not moving his body away from Harry’s. They stood tantalisingly close. “I don’t know wh-“

Harry pressed forward, his lips meeting Tony’s. There was a small part of him wondering just why it had taken so long for him to give in and kiss the man. His hand came to the back of Tony’s neck, not letting the older man withdraw again.

Tony stood frozen, his normally fast brain was silent. Deciding to just go with his instincts, Tony moved his hands so they were gripping Harry's hips. Harry grinned breathlessly, running his tongue against Tony’s lips, delighting in the fact the older man allowed the kiss to deepen. Tony pulled Harry closer still, groaning into Harry’s mouth when their bodies were flush against each other. The feeling of Tony along with the groan as they kissed went straight to Harry’s groin.

The sound of Teddy running down the stairs pulled Harry to his wits, he pushed Tony back. Both of them had a red blush on their cheeks.

“We need to stop,” Harry said as Tony had breathlessly said, “the kid’s coming.”

They both laughed.

“I think I’ll take that phone is you’re still offering,” Harry whispered.


	9. Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated 1/01/2018

After Teddy had run into the kitchen to see Harry and Tony, he found them stood rather closely, he had asked about food. Teddy was then set to putting the toppings on the pizza, after he had washed his hands at Harry’s demand.

Tony watched with fascination as Harry and Teddy worked together to finish setting the pizza up. It was different than anything he had seen before, almost seamless how the two would work together and never once getting in the other’s way. Once it was done, Harry had ushered both Teddy and Tony out, saying that the food needed to cook without eyes watching it. Tony thought it strange, but he didn’t argue, Teddy had accepted the ushering without any complaint, making Tony think this was a regular thing.

Teddy decided this was the perfect time to take Tony’s hand, much to the older man’s disbelief and lead him into the living room where he then showed off the toys that he had unpacked since Tony was last here. The ‘Room Toys’ were indeed meant to stay there then. A part of Tony was happy that Teddy had such a laid back parent.

The actual meal passed with little interruptions. Teddy had all but shovelled the food into his mouth as if he had been starving, whereas Tony and Harry showed some restraint with their food. Tony relished in the calm meal, it was unusual for him to experience a relaxing time to eat with the Avengers around. It seemed like there was always some form of drama happening around each of the members, it was never easy to handle and Tony did try his best to avoid it whenever he could.

“Dad, can Tony stay and play?” Teddy asked once Harry stood to collect the plates and place them next to the sink.

“If he wants to he can,” Harry said, trying to hide his smile at Tony’s bewildered expression.

“Tony?” Teddy asked, turning to the man. “Will you stay and play?”

“I guess I have some time to spare,” Tony said softly, smiling sincerely at Teddy. He was still shocked, unsure of why the kid wanted him around. Tony was sure that he hadn’t’ done anything particularly special the last time he was there.

Harry smiled warmly at the two of them. Watching as Tony had sat himself on the floor once again as Teddy pulled out his Lego toys. Harry shook his head, clearing away the table and finishing the washing up.

“Tony! Look. I made this,” Teddy said cheerfully showing Tony a Lego fire truck that he had made one of the previous days with Harry’s help. Or rather, the one that Harry had made as Teddy sat with the booklet, dictating what was meant to happen.

“That’s great buddy.”

Harry felt an icy tingly crawling up his spine, it was one that he had begun to associate with the strange figure and the strange dreams that normally left his shaken and nervous. He looked around the room slowly, not wanting to alert either Tony or Teddy, who were beginning to get engrossed with their latest design mission.

Looking around the room revealed nothing, which relieved Harry somewhat. The feeling did not disappear though, if anything it grew stronger. There was an underlining feeling behind it, one that wanted answers. Harry needed to know what was happening. Almost automatically his eyes were drawn to the window, clearly, a figure was stood under a tree across the road. Harry stood, the feeling within him stronger. He had to know who this person was,

“Harry?” Tony asked, an air of confusion surrounding the man as he watched Harry stand suddenly staring outside.

“Watch Teddy for me,” Harry muttered, he didn’t pay too much attention, trusting Tony to do that simple thing whilst Harry dealt with whoever was following him and invading his dreams. As long as Teddy was out of the way, Harry could handle whatever was thrown at him. “I’ll be right back.”

Focused on the task at hand, Harry made his way out of the house, leaving Tony even more confused.

“Where’s dad going?” Teddy asked, a frown on his face as he noticed his father’s odd behaviour.

“I’m not sure,” Tony admitted, he continued watching the window as Harry crossed the road with little care. Harry walked up to the tree he had seen the figure, which confused Tony even more as Harry stopped and stood tensely. All Tony saw was Harry walk out of the house, across the road and stop in front of a tree, for no reason.

“Teddy, can I trust you to stay here while I go get your dad? We’ll just be right across the road and you can see us through that window, alright?” Tony asked, focusing his attention onto Teddy.

Teddy nodded, slightly concerned as he glanced out of the window.

“Brilliant, we’ll be a minute and when we get back you can have some ice-cream,” Tony promised with a smile.

* * *

Harry left the house, his gaze fixed on the figure. He had half expected the person to have disappeared as soon as he left the house. Now he was drawing closer, a wave of unease overcame him. What did this person want? Were they following Teddy? Where they following him?

“Harry Potter,” a raspy voice called, making Harry halt his step. Harry was only stood a few feet from the figure.

“Who are you?” Harry demanded bravado in his voice.

“You have no need to fear me young one,” the voice said in something close to a whisper, yet the sound was heard clearly as if it was said next to Harry’s ear.

“Who are you?” Harry repeated. He wasn’t _afraid_ , not in the typical sense. He felt like he needed to know what he was about to be told, that it was something important that would change everything.

“I confess, I should have introduced myself a long time ago but my sister warned me of the implications.”

Harry waited, the temptation to call his wand from its holster growing. Harry did not want to act rashly though, not when he knew that he was probably being watched. Not with Teddy still so close.

“I was left with no other choice. I am needed elsewhere and I need someone to watch over this realm.”

“Wha –“ whatever Harry had expected, it was not that.

“Quiet,” the voice said harshly. “Before you defeated Voldemort you collected three items, correct?”

“Yes but –“

“Three items. One you were given when you were eleven. Past from your father to you. The second was given to you to use at the correct time and the third accidentally taken from an enemy at the time.”

“That is all true,” Harry said, his patience wearing thin, he did not want someone searching for the Hallows, and he certainly did not want them coming to him for help. “I left two of those items behind, hidden. If you want them you will have a lot of searching to do.”

“My child,” the voice said tenderly. “I do not wish to seek them. I seek the owner of those items. Never before has one person held all three items, the only time those items were together previously was when they were in my possession.”

Harry took a step back, his body growing cold again. They couldn’t mean - “You can’t be suggesting –“

“Harry Potter, I did not give those items up lightly. Your ancestors were rewarded for their cunning ability to outsmart me. Very few people in those times were able to defeat Death.”

“I’m not dying,” Harry protested. “You can’t be here.”

“You truly defeated me when you accepted your death after obtaining those items. You did not fight it, you willingly saw your end. It is not within my right to collect you,” Death said solemnly.

“I don’t –“

“Your wand. What is it?” the figure interrupted.

“It’s holly –“

“No! Take out your wand!” Death demanded, its demeanour changing into some harsher.

Harry flicked his wrist, calling him wand to his hand. Having gotten used to the sensation of it, Harry rarely paid attention to the feeling of his wand. It was then, that for the first time in several years that Harry truly looked at his wand. He glanced up at Death in shock.

“I gave this back to Dumbledore!”

“He was not the wands true master,” Death pointed out.

“I didn’t want this,” Harry protested, holding the wand in front of him. “I’m done with being special!”

“You were chosen,” Death said firmly. “I’d have waited more but after the happenings here… there is much to discuss. I am afraid it will have to wait for a later time. You need to accept your title and step into your role.”

“I –” Harry faltered. “I have a child.”

“You will not be taken from your post here,” Death promised. “For now you need to learn. There is time, I have ensured it. There _will_ come a time that you will need to do more but first, you need to accept this.”

Harry glanced back towards the house, he could see Tony and Teddy stood at the window. They were both watching, and it made Harry feel even more uneasy. He didn’t know if they could see _Death_ , but Harry didn’t really want to take that chance.

“They cannot see me,” Death explained. “Nor can they move. Right now, between us, time has slowed. I did not wish to rush you.”

“Why can’t they see you?” Harry asked.

“Death does not show itself to those still living without a cause,” Death recited. “There may come a time for that, but now is not that.”

“Why show yourself to me?” Harry asked, he expected to hear how he was ‘chosen’ or ‘worthy’.

“I needed to talk to you. To tell you of your fate. In a few weeks I will be leaving Earth,” Death said. “I will be meeting with those from other realms to discuss the fate of those fallen during the battle of Earth.”

“The battle of Earth?” Harry repeated slowly. He didn’t know what to think about that, surely he would have heard of something called _the battle of Earth_.

“A prince of Asgard allowed some beings from another realm to enter Earth’s realm. Those that fell here still reside here. It is unknown whether they are my responsibility or if they still fall under the responsibility of their realm.”

“Ok,” Harry said, slightly dumbstruck.

“Your suitor was involved in the battle.”

“What? _Tony_?” Harry asked, sceptically.

“Indeed. He has made a name for himself amongst my sister and I. It was with her wishes that he still lives.”

Harry got a feeling of disappointment, tainted with resignation. The faint feelings filled Harry with a rage that he thought would be a little out of place if he thought about it too closely.

“He still – you wanted him dead?” Harry asked, a blistering anger bubbling in his chest.

“That man has escaped my hands more times than should be possible,” Death grumbled. “It is unnatural. He is on borrowed time! I left him at my sister’s request but soon a choice must be made.”

“Your sister?” Harry asked, the anger being replaced by panic.

“You humans know her as Fate.”

“Fate,” Harry said softly. “This is a lot to take in.”

“Then that is all we will discuss at the moment. Time is running short. I will return, allow me entry?” Death said, its voice softening down to a whisper once more.

“Entry?”

“Yes. Allow me entry to your house. You are not dying, therefore I cannot enter.”

“I thought that was vampires!” Harry said louder than he intended to.

“Centuries ago vampires aided Death, they would consult people on their deathbed but it fell out of practice when it was discovered that their hunger could not be satisfied completely,” Death explained with a slightly bored tone.

“Ok! Ok! You can come back. You can come talk to me,” Harry said, his head beginning to hurt.

“If you chose to accept what I told you before I return, call the items gifted to you,” were Death’s last words. Harry thought he felt a skeletal hand caress his cheek before the cloak faded from view.

Harry swayed slightly, almost falling back.

“Whoa,” Tony’s voice sounded near his ear as he steadied him and turned the younger man around. “Careful there green-eyes. Let’s get you back inside.”

Harry met Tony’s eyes for a brief second before his rolled back and the world blackened around him.


	10. Ice-Cream and Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Updated: 05/01/2018**

“Oh shit,” Tony gasped as Harry went limp in his arms.

It took Tony a few minutes but he managed to get Harry back into the house. He even managed to not drop the man, and it had been a long time since he had carried someone without his suit. If Tony had been honest, he would have been the one that was being carried rather than _carrying_.

“What happened?” Teddy cried. He was shifting from foot to foot in the doorway. He hadn’t left the house but he was barely holding himself back.

“Your dad just got a little sick,” Tony said, keeping his voice steady as he laid Harry down on the couch.

“Tony –“ Teddy started, his lower lip wobbling a little.

“Do you want that ice-cream I promised?” Tony asked, taking Teddy’s hand and leading him to the kitchen. He didn’t want the kid to start crying, he didn’t know if he would be able to handle a crying child, and the thought of _happy_ Teddy in tears wasn’t a pleasant one. “I’m sure your dad keeps some hidden somewhere.”

Teddy shot a look of worry back to Harry before reluctantly giving in and helping Tony search for ice-cream.

“Your dad really likes to cook doesn’t he?” Tony asked as he opened the freezer.

“Yeah, we cook lots,” Teddy said, his voice changing back to his regular one rather than his panicked tone. There was still the hint of anxiety there, Tony could hear it clear as day. He didn’t expect anything different, out of sight didn’t mean out of mind, especially not when it’s someone your whole world revolves around.

“Let’s see – aha!” Tony cried triumphantly. “I found something!”

Pulling the tub that he had found from the freezer he saw it was vanilla ice-cream. Grabbing a spoon from a drawer he had seen Harry use earlier, he passed the tub and spoon to Teddy, who ran into the living room with it.

“Hey Teddy, don’t eat all the ice-cream yourself!” Tony said, following the child as Teddy giggled into the tub of ice-cream. With a sigh of relief, Tony hoped that Teddy was a lot calmer now, less on the verge of tears. Maybe the ice-cream could help keep him calm. Tony pulled out his phone and rang his tower.

“Hello Sir,” Jarvis answered.

“J, what would cause people to act strangely then faint?”

“Well Sir, an anxiety attack could cause such symptoms –“

“Unlikely, he was fine before he went outside and dropped,” Tony said, his eyes not leaving Harry from where he had come forward to stand in the doorway.

“Unpleasant sights, heat or pain can cause enough strain on the nervous system to cause a person to faint,” Jarvis said. Tony hummed in thought. “A fall in blood pressure as well.”

“I still feel like I would have noticed something beforehand though,” Tony pointed out.

“Well Sir, other triggers could be dehydration, diabetes, some medication and neurological conditions.”

“Teddy?” Tony asked, turning his attention to the child once more. “Does your dad do this often?”

Teddy shook his head, spoon still in his mouth.

“I don’t know Jarvis, I guess it could be dehydration or even something like diabetes. What should be the next course of action?”

“Without knowledge of what caused this person to faint it is recommended you call for assistance,” Jarvis pointed out, somewhat sarcastically, as if the answer was obvious to anyone.

“I did call for assistance,” Tony huffed.

“I’m afraid I do not count as assistance Sir.”

“Fine, have Happy drive Bruce to where I am,” Tony snapped, ending the call.

“Tony, what’s wrong?” Teddy asked, seeing the older man put his head in his hands.

“I’m just a bit worried,” Tony admitted. “I’m going to have a friend of mine check on your dad though. Just so we will know when he will be feeling better.”

Teddy nodded, playing with his bracelet. Tony hadn’t noticed it before, only noticing as Teddy fidgeted with the fabric.

“Do you want to watch something?” Tony asked, having seen the television set out of the corner of his eye.

“Please,” Teddy said softly, his eyes darting back towards Harry.

“He’s going to be alright, he just doesn’t feel too good,” Tony reminded the kid as he handed him the remote.

* * *

Harry’s darkened world soon flash with colour. He saw flashes of his own life. Flashes that Harry remembered like yesterday, even though his memories were skewed somewhat.

He himself as child stare down Voldemort’s wand. Harry felt his hand lift as the green spell that had be cast from the wand ricocheted off a shimmering shield. Harry watched in fascination as the spell turned on its original caster. Voldemort fell before him, the body disappearing as the air lightened. Harry didn’t see it, but he knew that Voldemort’s soul had gone, ran to hide elsewhere, just out of reach.

The scene around Harry lurched and Harry was once again face-to-face with a younger version of himself. Only this time, the child in question was around three years old. Harry watched as a purple Uncle Vernon shouted threateningly towards Harry. Aunt Petunia was stood to one side, holding Dudley to her body as her husband yelled.

Harry watched in horror as Uncle Vernon took a step closer to the small child, and just as Harry saw the evidence of how angry his Uncle was, a shimmering shield was once again surrounding the child. Harry stared, not noticing that once again, it was his hands that had moved to protect the child. He was too focused on how Uncle Vernon was turning a deeper shade of purple, how his chest puffed as he stood back on his feet, towering high over Harry’s younger self.

The scene changed several times, each scene being similar to the one he had just witnessed. It wasn’t long before Uncle Vernon’s temper had grown and moved on to other ways of hurting his nephew. Words were thrown around to watch the child squirm. Chores were piled onto a list long enough to make Harry’s eyes blur, but physical violence grew further apart. Harry still stood watch, waiting just in case it did happen again.

There was one scene in particular, where the younger Harry was older, that started midway into a violent encounter. Harry shouted, his hands moving of his own accord as he remembered the encounter himself. Uncle Vernon was thrown back from Harry and knocked unconscious. Harry stood shocked, staring at his own hands as his younger self watched in horror. He could remember how frightened he had been, how sure he was that it was _his_ doing that hurt his Uncle.

The next scene that Harry was thrown into was during his Hogwarts years. Fluffy stood growling, however, seeing this scene from a different angle, Harry was able to notice how little the three-headed dog had moved. Taking a closer look, Harry could see a very faint chain around the beast’s neck. It shimmered in the light as Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville froze in fright. The chain was barely there, seemingly invisible and Harry watched as it disappeared from sight once the children were out of the room.

Next, Harry was facing Quirrell and Voldemort. Just as Harry had raised his hands and fell unconscious, Quirrell was thrown backwards, much like Uncle Vernon had been. The difference in this scene was that Harry moved once the person hurting his younger self had been stopped. The body that Harry was currently in moved forward with little effort, barely moving as he glided forward. Harry placed his hand on his younger self, seeing the black cloak covering his body for the first time, an icy cold wave of magic flowed through Harry’s hand into his younger body’s forehead. A bright light surrounded the younger boy as he drew a shaky breath, his eyes still closed tightly. Harry had a sinking feeling, he was finally beginning to understand what these memories were. What they meant. The icy magic froze in the room.

The scene jumped again, making Harry stumble. This time, Harry came face-to-face with his younger self sat in the Dursley’s house once again. Young Harry was crying quietly. The boy looked ill, there was little colour to his face and his movements were shaky.

Harry paused, remembering this happening. It was when he had found the loose floorboard. Harry didn’t understand how this was connected to anything else, he wasn’t in danger, not yet. Harry still had time even if he hadn’t had found it. So why did they interfere without that danger? It didn’t make sense.

Once again, Harry moved forward and placed a hand on his younger self. His free hand flicked upwards as the floorboard moved slightly out of place. Moving his hand from the younger boy, Harry watched himself discovery the loose floorboard. The relief as he moved his stash of belongings into the floor, safe and sound.

Moving forward in time again, Harry saw himself in an office with Gilderoy Lockhart, anger bubbled up Harry’s chest as he pushed both his hands forward. The icy magic filled Harry again, and he watched with diluted glee as Gilderoy was moved to the other side of the room and kept there by another shimmering shield as the detention continued.

The scene where the spiders were closing in on Harry’s younger self was next. Harry had lazily waved his hand to call the car to where both he and Ron were stood glued to the floor.

Another lurch found Harry within the Chamber of Secrets as Tom Riddle spoke. Harry watched himself get stabbed once again in the arm. Harry waited for the body he was in to move, only it didn’t. Harry just watched as Fawkes came and gave his tears freely. It was strange, but also comforting to know that _that_ memory was still intact, that it wasn’t any type of interference that made Fawkes come to him.

The next scene saw Sirius Black sat in a run-down building. There was a cold, depressing air around the place. Harry saw the Daily Prophet article laid on the floor, without a thought he had picked it up and gave it to Sirius. The picture of the Weasley family in Egypt on the front. That was something that Harry didn’t understand. It wasn’t _his_ memory, or rather a memory connected to him, so why was he being shown this?

The next jump found Harry’s younger self in the graveyard. He watched himself be tortured by Voldemort, and he watched their wands lock. Harry lifted his hand once more, he had his palm facing upwards in front of his chest. Harry grabbed the air and thrust it towards his younger self and Voldemort, it was then that the spirits began to appear from the wands connections.

Even more jumps forward showed, each showing Death interacting in small doses, ensuring the safety of Harry. Helping him connect to Voldemort and see Arthur Weasley get bitten. Helping him against Umbridge. Helping him get to the ministry and watching as Sirius fell through the veil, _that_ one hurt Harry. Death hadn’t stepped in to help. There were more, each beginning to blur into the other.

Another lurch found Harry in the midst of a battle. The Hogwarts walls around his shook as the fights took place, almost as quickly as Harry had arrived, he was gone again.

The next scene that Harry saw was the one where he went to face his death. Harry watched his younger self shake as he attempted to calm his emotions. He saw himself take the Resurrection Stone and call the spirits of his mother, father, Sirius and Remus. Harry watched himself and the spirits walk towards where Voldemort was stationed.

It was just as Harry’s younger self stepped into the clearing that Harry waved his hand and sent the spirits away.

Harry watched himself die.

There were several minutes where the scene around Harry did not move, he watched himself and Voldemort fell backwards to the floor. He watched the Death Eaters panic. There were several that disapparate only moments after Voldemort fell.

The next scene was one where Harry was stood in New York, a sight of chaos surrounding him. There were bodies scattered everywhere. People were screaming and running. A hand was placed on Harry’s shoulder as a soft voice said; “There is nothing to do here. We must let it run its course.”

Faster than any of the previous transitions, Harry saw himself walking down a street in New York with Teddy. Harry watched himself stare at him, only to run into Tony.

Once again, Harry saw another scene, he could see Teddy kicking a football with a blonde haired boy. Just past the two boys was Harry, he watched himself and waited until Harry and Teddy were out of sight before leaving.

The last scene Harry saw was his talk with Death, only Harry was stood across from himself. Harry watched himself talk and just as the conversation came to an end, Harry flicked his hand discreetly and a faint shimmer of magic brushed across his other self.

The scene around Harry faded and crumbled.

An icy sensation stayed in Harry’s chest. It was neither painful nor pleasant. It did, however, cause Harry difficulty breathing. The whole situation was too much, seeing his past memories in this new light had shaken Harry. He could clearly see Uncle Vernon’s rage, along with Voldemort’s determination to kill him, as well as Harry’s parents and family surrounding him before his death.

“Why?” Harry called into the darkness around him. “Why did you show me this?”

Receiving no answer Harry continued.

“Is this meant to prove something?” Harry shouted, his eyes beginning to water. “I don’t know what you want me to know!”

Harry’s voice failed. As the silence rang once more.

“Please,” he whispered. “Please just let me go. I can’t – _please_ –”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I wasn't planning to do this chapter like this. However! Whilst writing it, I went back to fill a gap in and well, everything I wrote for the second part of the chapter originally is now going in the next one. So there's that.


	11. Bruce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated; 27/01/2018

Time seemed to pass slowly for Teddy and he tried to pay attention to both the television and Harry. Teddy had wanted to go straight to his dad, to sat next to him until he woke but Tony had stopped him, deciding it would be better for the two of them to sit together. Tony being a steady presence next to him, hoping to offer the child some support. He felt wrong, hoping that Teddy got some comfort from his presence. He didn’t feel worthy of helping the kid stay calm.

Harry gasped as he tried to sit up, his own hands flailing out in his panic to breathe. A hand was placed his chest, keeping him laid back. Harry could feel his breath coming quick, the air hardly lasting inside of his lungs before it was exhaled.

“Don’t move just yet. You just collapsed on us,” Tony muttered, he could feel how fast Harry’s heart was beating in his chest just beneath his hand. “I have a friend on his way. He’ll make sure you’re feeling better.”

With some effort, he opened his heavy eyes. The first thing that Harry saw was Tony’s worried face, as the man had left Teddy and come to see Harry waking. Turning his head slightly, Harry could see Teddy stood, shifting in place. Harry offered the kid a little smile, trying to show him that it was alright and that Harry was fine.

“Tony, you don’t need to do that. I’m fine,” Harry protested weakly, his body still feeling shaky from what he had just been through. He felt like he had just been running for his life, that the adrenaline had just worn off like it used to. Harry was half expecting Hermione’s voice to remind him to stay still until he could breathe properly until his fingers stopped shaking. He expected Ron’s voice asking if they were finally safe as he collapsed next to Harry, feeling the same effects of the chase.

“Have you fainted before?” Tony asked, not sure if he should feel relieved when Harry shook his head or more concerned. “Then you _will_ wait to be checked. Otherwise, I will take you to a hospital.”

Harry groaned again, giving up the urge to fight with Tony.

“Just stay put, Bruce shouldn’t be too long away,” Tony said, his face softening. “Then you can deal with an ice-cream filled child.”

“You gave him ice-cream?” Harry asked, a smile tugging on his lips. Harry pushed himself up a little, even against Tony’s protest.

“Yes, I take responsibility for it but you were the one that walked off and left me in charge of a however old child he is,” Tony pointed out.

“He’s five,” Harry said.

“Is that so, when’s his birthday?”

“The 17th of April,” Harry said.

“He’s got a while left to wait for his next one then,” Tony mused, looking towards the child who had become fully engrossed in a show about two strange friends now that Harry seemed fine.

“Just a bit,” Harry agreed.

“When’s yours?”

“My birthday?” Harry asked, shocked. When Tony nodded, he continued. “31st of July.”

Tony hummed, “Mine is 29th of May.”

A loud knock on the door sounded.

“Teddy watch your dad for me,” Tony said as he jumped to get to the door, drawing Teddy’s full attention to his dad.

Teddy left the television and moved closer to Harry. Concern shining in his eyes.

“Dad?”

“I’m ok cub, Tony’s just being a bit worrier,” Harry said as he forced a smile. Still unsure of everything that was happening himself.

“What happened?” Teddy asked, climbing onto the couch and lying next to Harry.

Harry looked to see if he could see Tony from where he was, “My magic just needed a little rest,” Harry said, seeing nothing.

Teddy frowned and nodded, trying to get closer to his dad. It wasn’t something that Teddy had seen Harry do before. He had never seen his dad as _weak_ , he had never seen his dad fall or even sleep so surely that it worried Teddy.

“Bruce,” Tony sighed in relief as he opened the door. “Thank you so much for this.”

“Tony?” Bruce asked, rather concerned with his friend's behaviour.

“Harry fainted and I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“Harry,” Bruce said, a hint of recognition in his tone as he recalled Tony mentioning the man. “You know I’m not an actual Doctor right?” Bruce asked tiredly.

“You’re as good as an ‘actual Doctor’,” Tony argued.

“What caused him to faint?” Bruce asked as Tony grabbed his arm and led him into the house.

“I’m not sure. He walked outside, stood still for a few seconds and as soon as I got to him he fainted,” Tony said seriously. “Jarvis gave some information but I couldn’t pinpoint a cause.”

“And you didn’t want hospitals involved,” Bruce summarised, knowing Tony a little _too_ well.

“Yes, I didn’t want hospitals involved.”

“Who’s that?” Teddy asked from his place next to Harry.

“This is my friend Bruce. Bruce, this is Teddy,” Tony said cheerfully.

Bruce’s eyes widened slightly. Whilst Tony had said there was a child, he didn’t expect _such_ a young child. Shooting a curious look towards Tony, Bruce said, “You must be the one that Tony built a town with?”

Bruce was unable to stop the smile when Teddy nodded with a huge smile.

“Tony helped a lot, we were going to make a spaceship today.”

“We can always do it another time buddy,” Tony said.

Smiling at the two, Bruce turned his attention to the disgruntled man lying on the couch next to the child. “You must be Harry,” he said, noticing how the man tensed slightly. Bruce rose an eyebrow at the action, what made the messy-haired man weary? “Tony’s mentioned you a few times.”

“I would guess your name but I honestly don’t know,” Harry said sheepishly as he relaxed again, the colour slowly returning to his face.

“I’m Bruce. Bruce Banner,” Bruce said. “Would you mind me asking you some questions? Tony wanted me to check on you.”

“Its fine I guess,” Harry said, slightly glad it was a muggle rather than a person in the know about magic. The icy sensation was still overwhelming Harry, although his breathing had become easier.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce asked, stepping closer to Harry.

“I’m rather tired,” Harry admitted.

“Before you fainted did you notice anything strange? Maybe difficulty breathing or a strong pain?” Bruce asked.

Harry paused for a second, knowing full well he couldn’t tell his muggle that he had seen Death moments before he fainted, or that he had somehow relieved most of his worst memories from a different perspective.

“No, I mean I had a headache but that was it,” Harry said, not looking at Bruce while he answered.

Tony tilted his head slightly, not quite believing Harry’s story. He listened closely as Bruce continued to ask Harry questions, there was no real information to be gleaned from the conversation but that did not detour Tony.

It was when Bruce went to check Harry’s pulse that something happened. Bruce had taken hold of Harry’s wrist for less than a second before he stepped back, breaking contact and putting distance between himself and Harry.

“Oh Merlin, I’m sorry,” Harry gasped, having felt the shock travel from his skin to Bruce’s. There was something about Bruce that made Harry’s magic react to the man touching him.

“It’s ok,” Bruce said, breathing slightly heavier. He was unable to place what just happened. If he didn’t know any better he would say that Harry had just shocked him.

“I don’t know what just happened,” Harry babbled.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to try to check your pulse again. Is that ok?” Bruce asked, moving closer to Harry again.

“Yeah,” Harry breathed, holding his wrist out to Bruce and trying his best to control his wayward magic.

Bruce hesitantly took Harry’s arm, he could feel a change in the air as he found Harry’s pulse. There was almost an electrical charge to the air. Controlling his breathing and keeping himself calm, Bruce focused on Harry’s pulse.

“It all seems good,” Bruce said, trying not to let his relief show as he let go of Harry. “I’m not sure what caused you to faint but you don’t seem to have any other side effects than your tiredness.”

“So dad’s ok?” Teddy asked, wriggling slightly in his position next to Harry.

“Sounds it,” Tony said, still watching the two men interact. “Be careful,” Tony reminded Teddy as he climbed onto Harry to hug him.

“Thanks, Bruce,” Tony said.

“It’s no problem, I’ll admit I didn’t expect this,” Bruce said with a chuckle.

“Well, it is a bit unusual,” Tony agreed.

“Are you heading back tonight?” Bruce asked quietly.

“And leave the kid alone? What if Harry faints again?” Tony asked.

“They’re going to ask why you aren’t back,” Bruce pointed out. Even the Avengers had noticed how Tony’s playboy reputation was something of the past, so him disappearing would turn heads.

“Tell them I’m off gallivanting around the world or something,” Tony shrugged. “Anything urgent can wait until tomorrow.”

“They seem good for you,” Bruce said quietly, as he watch Tony fondly gaze at the small family.

“We’ll see,” Tony said.

Once Harry and Teddy said their goodbyes to Bruce, he left. Tony promised he would make it up to the man, having brought him all the way out here just to send him back half an hour later.

“Aren’t you going, Tony?” Harry asked, confused when Tony had come back without Bruce.

“I’m not leaving you like this,” Tony said firmly, not wanting to give Harry the room to argue here. “If you faint again then Teddy is on his own.”

“Tony, I’m fine,” Harry protested.

“You seemed fine before as well,” Tony pointed out.

“I’m not –” Harry stopped himself continuing. A moment of realisation hit him, Tony was worried about him. “Ok, you can stay.”

“Thank you,” Tony sighed.

Teddy yawned from his position on Harry.

“Bedtime I think,” Harry said softly. He once again moved to sit up but Tony stopped him.

“I can take him,” Tony said.

“I would really rather you didn’t,” Harry admitted. “He doesn’t like to sleep with strangers nearby.”

Tony stepped back, realising that he couldn’t really help this one.

Harry sat up and moaned as his head spun. He held his hand up as Tony moved forward.

“I’m ok,” Harry said quietly.

“You struggled to sit, so I’m helping. Put the kid of the couch and I’ll come back for him once we’re gotten you upstairs.”

Relenting, Harry did as he was told. He carefully put the half asleep Teddy on the couch before turning slightly towards Tony.

“Up we go,” Tony said as he helped pull Harry up. “I’m shocked the ice-cream didn’t keep him up.”

“He crashes after intense emotional drama,” Harry said as him and Tony began to slowly walk towards the stairs.

“Do you normally have a lot of emotional drama?” Tony asked, as he steadied Harry.

“We have enough of it,” Harry said. “Part of the reason we came here.”

“I take it things weren’t going too well back home?” Tony said.

“There were too many memories around. My family were hurt a lot and I needed to get away from them and the scenery,” Harry admitted. “Teddy’s room is on the right.”

“I understand the need to get away,” Tony said almost wistfully.

Once the two made it to Teddy’s room, Tony left Harry sat on a chair and made his way back downstairs. Harry had a lot more going on than Tony had expected, that thought scared him slightly because Tony was fully aware of how attached he was becoming.

Slightly unsure of how to pick Teddy up, Tony paused. He didn’t quite understand why he cared so much, he normally didn’t allow himself to do things like this. Deciding to throw caution into to wind, Tony picked Teddy up. Teddy, still slightly awake moved so he was hugging Tony as he was holding him.

 _That was easy_ , Tony mused as he made his way back to Harry.

Harry watched as Tony reappeared and put Teddy in the bed. Harry had claimed that the child could sleep in his clothes because he was so tired and getting him changed at the moment would only wake him up. As Tony led Harry back out of the room, Harry waved his hand and with a push of energy behind his magic, Teddy had been changed into comfier clothing to sleep.

Once they got to Harry’s room, Harry was exhausted once again. Tony sat him on his bed and frowned.

“That won’t be comfy to sleep in,” he said honestly, knowing first-hand how certain clothes felt after a full day and night of wearing them.

“It’s fine,” Harry said, not having the energy to even sit straight.

“Ok,” Tony said, not quite wanting to leave Harry like this.

Harry laid down, his eyes growing heavier.

“Get some rest green-eyes,” Tony said softly.


	12. SHIELD matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Updated; 27/01/2018

Harry had fallen asleep almost as soon as Tony had told him to rest. Tony had momentarily considered joining Harry, however, with everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure it would be welcomed. Not knowing what else to do, Tony went back to the couch that Harry had previously been laid on and called Jarvis once again.

Tony, through Jarvis, accessed Bruce’s notes on the sceptre. Bruce had concluded that the magic around it acted as another type of energy. Which, depending on the situation and the desire, that energy would change slightly. There was a side note that was added just after Bruce had returned back to the tower that said ‘Loki’s magic may work similar, emotions could influence that energy and cause certain changes to the magic. Further ideas needed.’ This was how the two typically worked, bouncing ideas off of each other when they could, either by leaving a series of question marks or even stating ‘further ideas needed’ as a request for the other to chime in when they could.

The passage about emotions influencing the energy made Tony pause, he had been thinking in terms of technology, not energy. He also hit himself with how thoughtless he had been. _Everything_ surrounding Thor and his world was energy based. Even those portals to the other worlds, after all, that was how they tracked Thor. They had even used the same idea for searching for Loki.

Tony flexed his fingers, wanting to do and work with this newly found hunch. If this was not technology, and it was indeed energy, it wasn’t a case of recreating the weapon, no, instead it was _harnessing_ that energy. However, there was the problem of identifying that energy.

Tony told Jarvis all of his current ideas, knowing that the AI would take notes on everything he said, on how to identify said energy, if it was possible to isolate it.

“Sir, Mr. Rogers is requesting your presence,” Jarvis had interrupted after a few hours had passed. “He says it’s a SHIELD matter.”

Checking the time, Tony groaned. It was with a further sigh that Tony sent a message saying he’d be along soon. Spying some paper on the side, Tony left Harry a message.

_Harry,_

_Sorry about leaving but I had to get back to the tower. Bruce and the others needed me for something and it couldn’t wait. I left your phone just in case you still wanted it. My number is already there so just let me know when you wake up. It’ll stop me worrying about Teddy being left alone._

_If I don’t hear from you by mid-day I’ll send someone to check on you._

_Tony_

Tony pulled the mobile from his pocket and left it next to the note. He did hope that Harry accepted it, it was only fair. Although, Tony did admit to himself that he might have overstepped in it. Especially after only one real meeting. Perhaps Bruce _had_ been right.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“There’s been some strange energy readings,” Steve told Tony once he had finally gotten back to the tower. He had made a point to hurry since it _had_ been called a SHIELD matter. “Fury wants us all on high alert.”

“In the middle of the night?” Tony pointed out, more irritated than he should be. He didn’t feel right leaving Harry and Teddy alone, especially after Harry had fainted. There had to be something more to it, and he wanted to make sure the kid was alright.

“The readings came in earlier but they wanted to see what it was. Finding nothing made them worry,” Clint said with a shrug. He was sat next to Natasha, his hair a mess. It was obvious that the man had been pulled out of bed, and Tony couldn’t help but wonder if he slept with his hearing aids in, or if Jarvis had lit up the room alarm style. Either was possible, and Tony had made sure that Jarvis was able to aid his guests the best he could.

“What were the readings?” Tony asked, trying to finalise the information clearly. He always worked better with as much information as possible.

“They don’t know,” Steve took over, his captain voice in full swing. “Just unusual energy readings. Something big.”

“Like the portals?” Tony asked, thinking back to his thoughts earlier. Thor could finally be on his way, but SHIELD should recognise _that_.

“They didn’t say,” Natasha pointed out. “Just something strong they couldn’t place.”

“They asked Thor to come, he can pick up some energies better than we can,” Bruce said. His eyes met Tony’s. Tony saw the slightly pointed look Bruce gave him and his bobbed his head slightly, acknowledging that the man wanted to talk.

“We don’t have that much information to go on,” Tony said dryly.

“There wasn’t much information to give,” Steve said sharply.

“So what? We just sit around and wait for something to happen?”

“We’re part of the surveillance team,” Clint said.

Tony raised a brow at that. “Surveillance?”

“Yes, the area may be a hotspot for activity or future Loki’s. SHIELD wants surveillance on the area,” Clint said, knowing that he would be part of the group at the very least. Clint had a _talent_ for noticing the strange and unique ongoings that others miss.

“Right, well this has been lovely,” Tony started to say.

“Fury wanted to talk to you,” Steve said, shutting down Tony’s getaway before he really had a chance of leaving.

“He knows how to reach me,” Tony said dryly, he wasn’t too much of a Fury fan these days. He put up with the man, but the trust just wasn’t there. Too much had happened and too much information was guarded between them.

“He doesn’t want you looking into the sceptre,” Steve continued as if Tony hadn’t spoken.

“No can do. Bruce and I are onto something,” Tony said bluntly.

“Tony –“

“No Capsicle,” Tony said firmly. “This is important.”

With that said, Tony turned and walked away. His mind processing what was said. The strange energy readings seemed to have appeared at a very convenient time indeed. Perhaps he and Bruce were onto something.

“Tony!” Bruce called, following the man. Tony slowed his pace to let him catch up, even though he continued to step forward.

“Tony, the readings came from near Harry,” Bruce said softly once he had caught up. His voice was quiet, unsure of if they were within hearing distance. The two continued into an elevator.

“How near is near?” Tony asked, his voice just as quiet. He was slightly concerned about the two people he had left behind.

“It was located in that area. They don’t know what caused it but there were consistent readings from around the area over the past several days.”

Tony hummed in thought. He was aware that Harry had only just moved to New York, although it was unlikely the readings came from him. after all. Tony had spent more than enough time with the man. Plus, the latest reading was today, whilst Tony was there. The brief suspicion that had arisen was washed from Tony’s mind without another though, Harry didn’t have any time to do anything questionable.

“There will be people watching the area, so be careful,” Bruce said. Tony heard the warning, if he wanted Harry and Teddy to be kept a secret from the others he needed to stop the visits.

“Right,” Tony said, a frown forming.

The two continued in silence until they reached the lab.

“How was Harry?” Bruce asked, slightly unsure if he should be concerned.

“Tired, both of them were. They went straight to bed after you left,” Tony shrugged. A memory came to mind, “speaking of them. What happened when you went to check his pulse?”

“Oh,” Bruce vocalised. “I felt like I was given an electric shock. Probably static and I overreacted a bit,” Bruce admitted.

“Even so,” Tony said. “It was a big reaction. You didn’t even do that when I shocked you.”

“It was different,” Bruce said, rubbing his arm. “I don’t even know how to describe it, the other guy backed off as soon as he felt it.”

“That’s new,” Tony mused, knowing it was a big deal if Bruce mentioned it. He and Bruce had done a few tests on what Hulk would react to, mainly on Tony’s insistence. “He didn’t do that before.”

“No, it made him more aggressive before,” Bruce agreed.

“That’d explain why you were a bit shook up then,” Tony filed that information away for another time. “Strong energy readings, how do they affect people?”

“I’m not sure, I would guess that it’s the same as any strong readings, it would probably be associated with nausea, fatigue, confusion, anxiety and so on, but that is a guess based on other data,” Bruce pointed out.

An unpleasant thought struck Tony, “could it cause loss of consciousness?”

Bruce looked to Tony, his eyes widening slightly, “I guess it could, although if you are thinking about Harry, both you and Teddy should have been influenced by the high readings as well.”

“I don’t recall any of us but Harry acting out of the ordinary,” Tony said. “He just went outside and then fainted.”

“Why did he go outside?” Bruce asked, rubbing a hand across his face.

“No idea. I thought for a moment he might have seen something but there was nothing there,” Tony said. Not liking how his mind was linking Harry to the strange readings.

“I know I said be careful,” Bruce said. “But I think Harry might –”

“Don’t,” Tony warned, knowing exactly what Bruce was going to say, and not wanting it voiced out loud.

“We should just be careful, maybe get him here and see if we can find any readings. I know you read my notes so we could –”

“Bruce,” Tony said tiredly. “Trust me, Harry is not a problem here. I –”

“I get it,” Bruce said softly. “Hulk didn’t respond to him until the shock. Normally he would make it known he doesn’t feel comfortable. It was only after the shock that I felt him and it wasn’t anger, more like a scolded child.”

“Harry isn’t the problem,” Tony said again. Hoping that he would believe it if he said it firmly enough.

“No, but he might be used,” Bruce pointed out, thinking back to Clint under Loki’s influence.

“I’ll find a way to get him here,” Tony said with a sigh, wanting to prove that he was right. “We need to have something to read these energy readings though.”

“Let’s start working then,” Bruce said, noticing how determined Tony had become.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Harry woke to a silent house. His head still hurt and his throat was dry, almost as though he had been screaming. Whilst his dreams of Death had disappeared, his memories of the war and his Uncle had returned in full force. It had been a while since Harry had truly been plagued with those dreams. They would happen every so often, normally in times of great stress. The fact they had returned after Harry had gone over his own memories – or rather, _Death’s_ memories, he must have just been too open to the trauma of it all. It did mean that the day would have to go slow, Harry knew from experience that he would be paranoid, aware of everyone around him and every sound happening. Staying indoors would be beneficial.

Harry sat up groggily, feeling his clothing protest against him. It took a second for him to recall the previous night and that, no, he had not drunk enough to take down Hagrid, instead, he had _met_ Death. Or perhaps, been cornered by Death, since they had seemingly sought Harry out.

The rest of the night was still foggy in Harry’s brain, he remembered Teddy going to sleep and Tony, _Tony_ stayed the night. That was something that did make Harry a little nervous, although, he was more nervous about the fact he wasn’t _overly_ nervous.

With that thought clear in his head, Harry pushed himself out of bed, waiting slightly to stop himself from falling before he got changed into comfier clothing.

Checking on Teddy, he found the child still in his bed fast asleep, his limbs hanging out of the covers. Shaking his head at the sight, Harry continued onwards, making his way slowly down the stairs.

“Tony?” He called, poking his head into the living room.

Frowning slightly, Harry moved into the kitchen. Still, he saw nothing to hint that Tony had actually stayed.

Making his way back into the living room Harry spied the phone on the table, as well as the note.

_Harry,_

_Sorry about leaving but I had to get back to the tower. Bruce and the others needed me for something and it couldn’t wait. I left your phone just in case you still wanted it. My number is already there so just let me know when you wake up. It’ll stop me worrying about Teddy being left alone._

_If I don’t hear from you by mid-day I’ll send someone to check on you._

_Tony_

Harry shook his head, trying not to acknowledge the faint disappointment that the man had left. He picked up the phone and stared at it for a moment. He pressed the one button that was on the front of the phone and watched in fascination as the screen lit up.

“This is cool,” Harry said softly as he followed the on-screen instructions to unlock the phone. Harry sat on the couch and gingerly pressed the screen to see what the different icons did. Having opened one, he fumbled with the phone before deciding to press the button that lit the screen up. With a laugh, Harry realised that it took him back to the home screen.

“Muggles are amazing,” he thought out loud as he found the texting icon.

_‘Hi Tony, just letting you know I am awake and ok. Thank you for this. Harry.’_

It was with a smile that Harry continued to explore the different aspects of the phone.

 _‘Great, I can’t talk much at the moment – big project, but I will get back to you later. Stay safe.’_  The message read from Tony as it flashed across the top of the screen.

Harry smiled goofily, feeling better than he had since Death had arrived.


	13. Metamorphmagi Meet up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated; 25/02/2018

“What’s your name?” a girl, just barely older than Teddy asked loudly. She had drawn Harry’s attention as soon as she approached, whereas Teddy had been entranced by the whole space around him. Harry did have to admit it looking amazing. It was mostly open space, with different areas based on different things, something that Harry was a little jealous he never had the chance to try out in his childhood.

Teddy glanced at Harry for a moment, waiting for his dad to nod before he answered timidly, “Teddy.”

“I’m Ella!” the girl said. “I’m seven.”

“I’m five,” Teddy said just as quietly as before. Teddy had always been a little shy, but Harry was curious as to how he would handle this situation. Teddy knew that the other children were magical, something he had not really encountered before.

“Can you change your hair too?” Ella asked, taking Teddy’s hand and pulling him forward. Harry caught Teddy’s panicked look and decided to step in.

“One second sweetie,” Harry said to Ella. “Teddy you can take the bracelet off now if you’d like.”

“But dad,” Teddy gasped. As expected, Teddy’s panic turned to shock. Shock was more manageable than panic, Harry always tried to avoid his kid freaking out.

“Remember how you were allowed it off with everyone back home?” Harry pointed out as he knelt down so he was face-to-face with the child. Teddy nodded slowly. “It was just the muggles you had to wear it with, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Teddy whispered, moving closer to Harry.

“This is a safe space, just like the Burrow was. You don’t have to hide your powers, plus there are a lot of people here that are Metamorphmagi,” Harry said.

“Really?” the hopeful tone in Teddy’s voice made Harry’s heart twitch.

“Yeah, I think Ella might be one,” Harry said, making his voice slightly louder so the girl could hear. “She did ask if you could change your hair after all.”

Teddy nodded again, looking towards Ella before looking at Harry. He held his wrist out.

“You take it off,” Harry said. “I won’t make you. It’s _your_ choice.”

Teddy bit his lip, unsure of what he should do. He didn’t know these people and that had been the rule. That was _always_ the rule. Never around strangers because we don’t know who we can trust. Just seeing the confusion made Harry’s heartbreak, as much as he wanted to promise that Teddy would never have to hide himself, he couldn’t.

“I’ll make a deal,” Harry said, bringing his son’s attention back to the present. “You don’t have to take it off, I won’t make you take it off. However, you go play today. Talk to some of the people and see what they are like. If you want to take the bracelet off you can. At any time. Then if you want to put it back on you can. That sound fair?” Harry asked.

“So I don’t have to?” Teddy whispered.

“Nope,” Harry said. “It’s your choice.”

Teddy nodded. Choices were things Harry tried his best to give Teddy. He had grown up being told exactly what he could and couldn’t do, then having that chance of being able to do whatever he wanted to, both choices were horrifying and distressful. Choices were the way to go, plus, Teddy responded to them well.

“Everyone’s really nice here,” Ella said suddenly. “I can show you around if you want?” Ella held her hand out.

Teddy looked at the girl, noticing her dark green hair and bright pink eyes. With a look back at Harry, Teddy took Ella’s hand.

Harry watched as Ella took Teddy around the different rooms and tables. It didn’t take long for Teddy to relax around the girl and soon the two were laughing and talking rapidly.

Teddy ran over to Harry, “dad,” he said breathlessly. “There are so many people here! They can all change themselves, just like me!”

“Really?” Harry asked. Once again, his heart broke at how much joy was in those last three words from Teddy’s mouth. He should have been able to have this the whole time.

“Yeah, Ella showed me all the people,” Teddy enthused.

“Wow, are you going back to play some more then?” Harry asked.

Teddy nodded, he pulled his bracelet off his wrist and hesitated briefly before giving it to Harry. Harry took the bracelet, slowly putting it in his pocket.

Teddy smiled widely before dashing back to Ella, his hair changing from black to blue as he did. Much to the amusement of his new friend.

Harry watched the children some more, feeling overly happy with how Teddy had settled into the group. He was interacting with both the adults and the children that were there. It brought memories of Tonks to mind as the people around him were happy to show off their metamorphic abilities. It was always painful to be reminded of her, and Remus too. Bittersweet in a sense, one that made Harry wonder just how well he would ever manage to keep their image in Teddy’s mind, but he would always try his best.

“Dad!” Teddy chirped, running over to Harry once again as people began to gather their belongings and prepare to head home. “Do we have to go? I really want to stay with Ella, she’s staying here all day.”

Harry held back the smile as the girl in question sat at the table, her hair a bright green.

Harry faked a sigh, “I guess you could stay if you really wanted to,” he said with a pout. “That does mean that I will have to leave you here, all alone.”

“Dad!” Teddy giggled, his hair turning from blue to yellow.

“You really want to stay?” Harry asked, the playfulness gone. He wanted to make doubly sure that this is what Teddy wanted.

“Yep! Ella said she would show me some magic,” Teddy said brightly.

“Then you can stay. I will have to go though, it’s a long time for me to be sat here and I need to make sure Jake is ok,” Harry pointed out to the child. “If you’re ok staying with Liz and Ella until I come back later –“

“I am! I am! I am!” Teddy said as he jumped up and down.

“If you need me just let them know,” Harry said, with a smile. “Hug?”

Teddy jumped on his father, hugging him tightly before saying goodbye. Once Harry had said it back, Teddy was gone. The faint purple hair only visible amongst the sea of children.

“He’ll be fine,” Liz said, having seen the interaction and made her way over.

“I know. He’s just growing up,” Harry said.

“He’s still got a lot of growing ahead of him,” Liz pointed out.

“I know.” It didn’t stop Harry feeling as if Teddy’s whole childhood was almost over already.

“I think we can start the actual routine next week. I’ll have everything ready for you to collect when you come back for Teddy,” Liz said. “There will be forms that need to be signed but you can bring them back when he comes for his first day.”

“Thank you,” Harry said.

“No need,” Liz smiled.

Harry said his goodbyes to Liz, before promising to collect Teddy and the paperwork at three.

Walking down the street, planning on heading home for a bit, Harry spotted a familiar face.

“Jake?” Harry asked, jogging slightly to catch up to the man.

“Harry! How is everything?” Jake said, turning and seeing him.

“Good, Teddy’s just got settled in Squirts Horizons,” Harry said.

“That’s great, how about you?” Jake asked.

“I’m ok,” Harry said lightly. “How have you been?”

“Same old, same old,” Jake shrugged. “Have you been to Crow’s Street yet?”

“Not yet,” Harry said. “We’ve been too caught up with unpacking and Tony’s been around a lot.”

“Tony?” Jake asked, curious.

“Tony Stark,” Harry said slowly.

“Tony Stark?” Jake asked, not quite believing that Harry was saying what he thought he was.

“Yes,” Harry said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lip. “Teddy seems fond of him.”

“As in Iron Man Tony Stark?” Jake asked slowly.

“I don’t know Iron Man but Tony’s last name is Stark. It says so in my phone,” Harry said, pulling his mobile out.

“That’s a Stark Industries phone,” Jake gasped, his whole body beginning to shake with excitement.

“Ok,” Harry said slowly, not quite understanding why Jake was getting so excited.

“Harry!” Jake groaned, his excitement halting. “Tony Stark is one of the most well-known people in the muggle world. He lives with the Avengers.”

“ _America’s greatest superheroes_ ,” Harry quoted with a smile. “I thought he was joking,” he said, shaking his head.

“You don’t know about the Avengers,” Jake said quietly. “I would say look them up or ask Tony. Either way.”

“So,” Harry said, trying not to see to interesting in the conversation. “You know about Tony?”

“Yeah, pretty much everyone knows about him,” Jake said. “An absolute genius apparently. Wouldn’t surprise me, the stuff he can make.”

“He’s pretty good with Lego,” Harry said with a smile.

“I feel like I’m missing a lot of context here,” Jake said with a shake of his head.

“Sorry,” Harry said with a laugh. “I actually have a question that you might know the answer to.”

“Shoot.”

“Ok, well I came across a book the other day,” Harry made up. “It mentioned Death, but as a person rather than a construct. Like how the Tale of the Three Brothers worked,” Harry said.

“There’s quite a few texts and theories behind Death being an actual creature,” Jake said.

“What’s the believed truth behind it?” Harry asked. “Especially since there is the theory of the Deathly Hallows and the Master of Death.”

Jake hesitated for a moment, “I would need to consult a few people to get a definite answer for you,” Jake said. “Should I be concerned? I know there were rumours about you during the war with You-Know-Who.”

“I’m just curious,” Harry said, not meeting Jake’s eyes.

“Well, I’ll see what I can find and –“

“Harry?” an American voice asked from behind them.

“Tony?” Harry said, surprised as he turned and saw the man.

“Who – who’s this?” Tony asked, noticing Jake, who was staring at him with awe.

“I’m Jake Eastman, a friend of Harry’s. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stark,” Jake enthused as Harry rolled his eyes.

Tony just looked from Harry to Jake in confusion.

“Am I interrupting something?” Tony asked, growing more confused when Jake didn’t talk.

“No. Jake was just checking in on how we settled,” Harry said.

“Harry’s said a lot about you,” Jake jumped in, making a faint blush rise on Harry’s cheeks.

“I feel like I’m lost,” Tony said, watching Harry.

“Oh!” Jake realised with a start. “I need to be going, I wasn’t meant to stay as long as I had. I’ll pass on your message and I’ll be in touch with their reply,” Jake said. He nodded to Tony, the huge smile still on his face before he began to walk in the opposite direction.

“That was strange,” Tony said.

“You have to be used to it,” Harry pointed out. “Fame makes people react like that.”

“Most people,” Tony agreed, curiously looking at Harry. The man had not acknowledged his fame previously. “Where’s Teddy?”

“Daycare. We went to this meet up earlier and he asked to stay for a bit longer, so they’re trying him in one of the programmes they run,” Harry smiled.

“What daycare?” Tony asked curiously.

“You know, I found one about ten minutes away,” Harry said, trying to not give Tony too much.

“How long is he there?”

“Until about three,” Harry said, knowing it was only eleven.

“Come back to mine,” Tony said suddenly, watching for Harry’s reaction.

Harry’s step faltered as he sent a shocked look to Tony. “Just because Teddy isn’t here doesn’t mean –“

“I’m not suggesting that,” Tony said gently, stepping closer to Harry. “I want to show you around. You can see where Bruce and I work. You can meet my friends; I’ll even get you back to pick Teddy up.”

“Tony,” Harry said, wanting to say yes but part of him also wanted to not get attached. Tony didn’t seem like the man to stick around for too long.

“Please,” Tony coaxed. “I promise that I’ll be the perfect gentleman and if I don’t I’ll let Bruce knock some sense into me. He can be mean and green when he wants to be,” Tony finished in a slightly sing-song voice.

Harry chuckled, unable to stop himself. “I suppose a short visit wouldn’t be too bad.”

“Great!” Tony said happily.


	14. Stark Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated; 05/03/2018

Harry gazed around in amazement as Tony led him into Stark Tower. There was just so much. It was so much more advanced than anything Harry had ever seen before in his life.

“This is incredible!”

“I designed it myself,” Tony noted, enjoying the look on Harry’s face.

“It’s amazing,” Harry gushed.

Tony smiled, noticing the lack of bodies around them, he took Harry’s hand and entwined his fingers with the other man's.

“How much do you know about me?” Tony asked curiously.

Harry glanced at their entangled fingers and pondered the question. “I know you’re famous,” Harry said. “You don’t have a worry about money, although that could be from the business you inherited. You’ve been through a lot of difficult things, ones that took a toll on you,” Harry said carefully. “Your eyes say that much. I have heard you were involved in some sort of battle but that’s all I’m aware of.”

“I would have thought you’d have searched me up or asked about me,” Tony mused aloud.

“I don’t like disregarding someone’s privacy,” Harry shrugged. He _had_ considered it. Tempted to search for more information on Tony Stark, but each time Harry thought about it, he remembered how he felt whenever someone would state facts about him without him knowing them and felt sickened by the thought of subjecting someone else to that.

“You’re an interesting one,” Tony said with a chuckle as he squeezed Harry’s hand. “Now, let’s show you around,” Tony said with a gleeful tone as he led Harry into the elevator that was waiting for them.

“Jarvis,” Tony said, making Harry shoot him a confused glance.

“Welcome home Sir,” the AI responded, making Harry jump.

“Jarvis, this is Harry,” Tony said with a smile. “Harry, Jarvis is my A.I., he runs the house and handles the security system in place.”

“A.I.?” Harry asked.

“Artificial intelligence,” Tony responded before elaborating, “A very smart robot.”

“That’s remarkable,” Harry said softly.

“Remind me to show Teddy some time,” Tony noted. “He’d love it.”

“That he would,” Harry agreed.

“Where is everyone J?” Tony asked as the elevator continued to climb the different floors.

“Captain Rogers is in the dining area, Dr. Banner is continuing work on the project in the lab and the others have been asked to attend a briefing,” Jarvis replied.

Harry listened in wonder, this was beyond anything he had seen before, even with the influence of magic at his aid. A hint of nervousness overcame him as he realised just what that meant, he would have to have more control over himself to ensure he doesn’t do any of the technology harm.

“From here on up are the living quarters,” Tony said idly, shocking Harry as he was able to see how high up they were. “First few floors are still empty, then we have some floors dedicated to the Avengers. There’s the training arena that was built purely for everyone to practice their skills. Jarvis has a lot of control over that room, I might show you some time. It’s pretty cool,” Tony said.

“What kind of things are in the training arena?” Harry asked.

“Normal fitness equipment, weapons, targets and even a sparring area. That had to be expanded, we were forced to do team battles which were interesting. Still are, there is a lot to do to make a good team,” Tony said.

“Trust as well as understanding amongst everyone,” Harry agreed, recalling back to how the DA had fit together. It wasn’t easy but they did end up making it work. “It isn’t an easy thing to achieve.”

“Exactly!” Tony nodded. “There’s a few recreational floors; pool, arcade games, the works really,” Tony winked.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

“An optional gathering space. There is a home theatre on this floor, as well as kitchen, bar and dining areas.”

“This is really amazing Tony,” Harry said.

“Come on,” Tony said, pulling Harry forward by his hand.

Tony led Harry around, promising to bring Harry back to the home theatre after finding out that Harry had a severe lack of movie knowledge. Tony had also mentally made a note to create a database of children-friendly stuff for when Teddy was able to come see the place.

To get to the kitchen, Tony and Harry had to pass through the dining area. As Jarvis had said earlier, Steve was sat at the table, his sketching book in hand.

“Cap,” Tony said as he entered.

“Stark,” Steve responded, not looking up until he heard Harry enter. “Oh,” he said, a hint of shock in his voice, “I wasn’t aware you were entertaining. I can leave,” he offered.

“No need, just showing green-eyes around,” Tony said with a shrug.

“I’m Harry,” Harry said politely, noticing Tony roll his eyes slightly.

“Steve Rogers,” Steve said, leaving his drawing so he could shake Harry’s hand. “British, correct?”

“Yes, recently moved,” Harry nodded, taking Steve’s offered hand.

Steve rose an eyebrow at Tony when he noticed the two still holding hands. “I’m not sure what he’s told you but –”

“With all due respect Captain, I am showing my friend around,” Tony injected. Harry couldn’t help feeling a little amused at the reaction, perhaps Tony had a habit of hiding truths to show people around.

“Of course,” Steve said, inclining his head slightly. He gave Harry a levelled look, feeling slightly more confident when Harry didn’t look away. He gave the British man a nod before turning back to his drawing.

Tony tugged Harry’s hand again.

“Oh my,” Harry gasped, entering the kitchen.

“Nice huh?” Tony asked, a smile on his lips. He had been somewhat excited to show Harry the kitchen; it was a large area with all the latest equipment.

“How much do you cook?” Harry asked, his eyes taking in the whole area. He forgot how Tony had been so unsure in _his_ kitchen, Harry just wanted to put it down to it not being Tony’s own space. Harry had let go of Tony’s hand and stepped forward.

“Not much, none of us really do. Although Clint can make a mean pasta, a variety of them as well,” Tony said.

“This poor kitchen,” Harry muttered sadly, his hand running across the table top slowly.

“I would say you can cook some time but I wouldn’t want you to feel like I’m using you for food,” Tony said, his smile growing wider.

“I may take you up on that,” Harry said.

“J, how is Bruce doing?”

“Dr. Banner has stated that he is prepared for stage two,” Jarvis responded.

“Brilliant,” Tony said. “Let’s go see Bruce,” he said, taking Harry’s hand again and leading the man back out of the kitchen. “He’s been holed in the lab for days and he could do with some human interaction.”

Harry nodded to Steve as they passed before Tony had taken him back to the elevator.

“So what is Bruce working on?” Harry asked, interested in the idea that Tony and Bruce were working on secret things in the lab.

“We’ve been working on some Avenger business,” Tony said honestly.

“What exactly are the Avengers?” Harry asked. “I know you said superheroes but I don’t really believe it.”

“The Avengers are superheroes, although half of the team are just human. There are two spies, assassins or whatever you want to call them, they’re not around today. There is Bruce, who has a bit of an alternative personality when he gets angry. There is Captain America, who was frozen in ice for years. Thor, who is _the_ magical god Thor,” Tony said, “it’s true, he’s real,” he added, seeing Harry’s disbelieving look. “Thor’s not around yet but he will be arriving soon enough, big threat to humanity so super god is arriving.”

The elevator made another noise again as the door opened.

“There is also me,” Tony shrugged, leading Harry through the glass door. “We’re a group of misfits that got luck when aliens attacked.”

“Aliens?” Harry asked.

“Well, they were from a different world,” Tony said. “There are nine realms, ours is called Midgard. Thor is from Asgard. The other realms are… what are they Jarvis?”

“Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Muspelheim, Alfheim, Svartalfheim, and Hel,” Jarvis answered.

“Exactly, Thor will probably have more to say on them, he’s been to almost all of them I think,” Tony said.

“What happened when they attacked?” Harry asked, Death’s words of ‘the Battle of Earth’ ringing in his ears.

“Loki, who is Thor’s adopted brother, wanted to take over Midgard. He used magic to control people and he opened a portal to one of the other realms. New York suffered a lot of damage from the fight and we were lucky to overcome them,” Tony said seriously.

“You were part of the battle?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Tony said shortly, not offering any more information on the matter.

Harry thought for a moment, part of him really wanted to push Tony for details but he knew first-hand how difficult it was to talk about battles that could have ended in almost world domination.

Bruce appeared, having come through a room further away from them. Bruce made his way straight to one of the tables, he tapped his fingers against the tabletop.

“Harry, it’s good to see you again,” he said.

“You as well Bruce. Tony says you’ve been camping out down here for a bit.”

“Just a little, he’s been with me for the most part,” Bruce said, not quite looking Harry in the eye.

Harry frowned slightly, Bruce was acting strangely.

“How is everything?” Tony asked, focusing on Bruce.

Harry’s eyes narrowed slightly as Bruce nodded and said, “Everything seems to be clean and working correctly.”

“Brilliant!” Tony said. “You should get some rest, we have to start again tomorrow.”

Bruce said his goodbyes and left Harry and Tony alone. Tony lifted his and Harry’s hand, pulling Harry closer to him. Harry just let it happen, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling he had.

“Sorry, I was going to be good but this is cause for a celebration,” Tony said softly before kissing Harry.

Harry closed his eyes, letting himself become lost in the kiss. The unease almost disappeared instantly. He hadn’t truly felt content around someone since his short relationship with Ginny. Kissing Tony, it was nothing like kissing Ginny. Tony was rougher, more demanding with his kisses. It made Harry want to keep going, it made him want things to escalate further. That was a dangerous path to go down though. Harry had to remind himself that he wasn’t going there, not with Teddy so young.

“Sorry,” Tony whispered, pulling back from Harry slightly to rest his head against Harry’s forehead.

“I guess I can let you off this once,” Harry whispered back, enjoying the feeling of Tony being so close.

“I’ll be honest,” Tony said suddenly, he stepped back and gave Harry some room. “I did have an ulterior motive for asking you here.”

“Hmm?” Harry questioned.

“The other night, when I was called back here, it was for the Avenger stuff I’ve been working on. We were told that there was a possible danger threat, high energy readings that came from an unknown source.”

“Go on,” Harry said, pushing Tony to continue. The unease was growing again, but Harry tried his best to ignore it. He wanted to give Tony the benefit of the doubt, just because Bruce had been acting weird, and then Tony had ushered him away didn’t _mean_ anything.

“The last readings that were identified were around the time that you fainted,” Tony said carefully. “It was in the area and at the time, so both Bruce and I had a thought that you may have been affected by the energy readings.”

Harry froze slightly, his heart rate increasing.

“We haven’t been able to get the same readings from you so we don’t think you are being controlled or affected anymore,” Tony said, trying to be reassuring.

“You checked me? What did you do?” it was said in a whisper. Harry hadn’t dared to speak any louder. He could feel his heart in his throat.

“Since we got the readings, Bruce and I have been working on a way to try and locate similar readings on specific areas. It was the same basic principle that was being used for New York, we just focused it a bit more. I asked Jarvis to scan you when you entered. Then Bruce repeated it in the lab,” Tony admitted. “I needed to make sure you were yo –”

“I think I should go,” Harry said.

“Harry,” Tony said.

“No,” Harry said firmly, cutting Tony off. “You could have asked Tony.”

“If you were being influenced –” Tony tried to explain.

“If I were being influenced and I was a threat I wouldn’t be as focused on Teddy as I am. I would be focused on what my goal was,” Harry paused momentarily. He had seen people under the influence of another, hell, he had _been_ under that influence. “I wouldn’t have trusted you.”

He knew he was overreacting slightly. Tony’s actions weren’t malicious; they weren’t even done without thought. It still hurt Harry though. Tony had no way of knowing that Harry knew what being under someone’s control was like. Tony had no way of knowing that Harry was certain he was in control of himself. After all, Tony had no knowledge of everything Harry had been through.

Harry swallowed, his throat had gone dry as his mind sped up. Harry tried his best to push Tony’s resigned look from his mind.

“I need to go get Teddy,” Harry said. “I –” Harry faltered, deciding it was best not to speak.

“I’m sorry,” Tony said. “We had to be sure and I didn’t want to lie to you if I had to.”

Harry nodded once, accepting Tony’s words for what they were. He just needed space away from the man. He needed to think, to cool down and rationalise. It hurt, but it might be useful for Harry to know that the muggles were that close to finding something.


	15. I'll Do It

Once Harry had left Tony, he felt unsure of what was left to do. Tony mentioned energy fluctuations, was this because of his magic or something else? By coming to New York had Harry endangered the whole magic world?

_Tony was just doing his job_ , Harry pointed out to himself. _There was a possible threat and he wanted to eliminate me from that threat._

That thought hurt Harry’s head. He wasn’t sure what his next step would be, he had gotten angry and left. It was involuntary.

Harry pulled his phone out, looking at his past texts to Tony.

‘ _I’m sorry for just running out. I need time to think._ ’ Harry wrote, he was going to send the text before he thought better of it. The longer he stared at his phone, the more he grew unsure of sending the message.

Harry hit the cancel button and left his phone on his table. Deciding to just leave the phone behind, Harry began making his way to collect Teddy.

He was early to arrive but instead of taking Teddy early, Harry followed Liz back and began to look over the paperwork. The majority of it were policies and emergency information, there were the odd outing paper that discussed what would happen in the event of a planned outing for teaching purposes.

Harry signed what he was meant to and promised Liz to bring an extra bracelet for them to keep just in case Teddy needed one.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Harry and Teddy spent the weekend eating junk foods and watching television. Whilst Teddy had enjoyed the new development, he soon tired of it. Harry had never been one to indulge in junk food, so Teddy had taken advantage of the offer.

It was Sunday evening, Harry and Teddy were sat together on the couch, a blanket covering their legs as they watched Rise of the Guardians. Harry had heavy bags under his eyes and he seemed to generally lack energy.

Harry had spoken to George over owl post and arranged for the man to take a break away from England, something which had made Molly worry.

The fire turned green and the one-eared man stepped through.

“Ron wants you to know you’re an idiot,” George said as a way of greeting as he stepped out of the fire. “Hermione wants to know what you were thinking and she’s ecstatic. Ginny is heartbroken. Mum is disappointed but she is supportive. Dad is overjoyed that you are happy –”

“What?” Harry asked, confused.

“Here,” George said. He dropped a magazine on Harry before lifting Teddy into his arms, he smiled as Teddy’s hair turned red to match him.

“Uncle George!” Teddy cried.

Harry picked up the magazine that George gave him. On the cover was a picture of Harry, Teddy and Tony. The picture was taken from outside of Harry’s house, although the angle hid the address. Tony was holding taking a bag from Harry as Teddy stood next to Harry. Harry recognised the imagine from the day they had made pizza’s. The title read ‘Tony Stark – Hidden Family?’

“It goes on to say that Tony Stark was in this house for most of the night, leaving in the early morning to return home. It also mentioned him carrying a certain mystery man into the same house later in the evening before something called an Avenger arrived,” George said.

Harry groaned, wanting nothing more than to hit his head on the wall.

“You know Tony?” Teddy gasped, looking up to George.

“Not yet kiddo,” George said, bouncing Teddy slightly.

“He’s super cool. He makes robots and he helps me with Lego,” Teddy said, not noticing Harry’s slightly pained look.

George noticed. George also noticed how scruffy Harry looked, the man had not shaved recently and he seemed sunken.

“Kiddo, how about we go make some food? It’s almost time to eat,” George said.

“Daddy was going to get someone to bring us food,” Teddy said.

“Hmm, I think something home cooked will be better for all of us,” George said, sending a deliberate look to Harry.

George firmly took control over the rest of the day, even going as far as the usher Harry upstairs once he had eaten with the command of resting.

Teddy had enjoyed the time with George as Harry was laid in bed. Teddy talked almost nonstop about what had been happening since they had arrived in New York.

“So what happened?” George finally asked Harry, sitting on the edge of the man’s bed.

“Tony lied to me,” Harry said.

George nudged Harry, indicating for the man to move over as he joined him on the bed.

“Tell me about it,” George said simply, having put Teddy to bed moments ago.

Harry spent the next hour talking, he explained to George how he and Tony had met and how much he liked the American man and how his fondness grew as they spent more time together. Finally, he told George about the fact that Tony had withheld information.

“What about it makes you angry?” George asked, having not spoken until he was sure Harry was finished.

“I don’t know,” Harry said honestly. “I just remember everything with Voldemort so much.”

“Tony doesn’t know this,” George pointed out. “He did tell you once he knew you were ok.”

“I know,” Harry said. “I’m just…” he trailed off, unsure of what he was doing or feeling.

“You’re hurt,” George offered. “You immediately jumped to the thought that he was hiding a lot more from you and you felt betrayed.”

“Exactly,” Harry sighed.

“Get some sleep,” George said. “You’ll only dwell on it more being tired.”

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Harry frowned as he looked at his bedside table. The previous night he had left a book there, and now, there laid a stone.

Harry’s blood ran cold, he stepped forward and gingerly touched the stone in question. There was a warmth within the stone, as though it was calling to him. Harry took the stone in his hand, memories of his parents, Sirius and Remus coming to mind.

“What are you doing here?” Harry asked aloud, his voice shaking slightly. He was immensely glad that George had offered to take Teddy to Squirts Horizon today, and that George had business in Crow’s Street.

“I thought you may want it back,” a raspy voice said from behind Harry.

Harry froze, “I don’t –”

“Time is running out Mr. Potter. I would like to have preparations in place,” Death said.

“I can’t just abandon Teddy,” Harry said.

“I am not asking you to,” Death said simply. “I just need someone to take my place whilst I attend a meeting.”

“What would I need to do?” Harry asked.

“Ideally, nothing. There may be a few troubles with the Reapers but they are used to working without a guide constantly. Your actual responsibilities would be nothing more than aiding me, there will be situations where your word would be the last one but that is a long way from now,” Death said. “You would need to control yourself and develop your skill sets.”

Harry sat back on his bed, placing his head in his hands.

“I can’t put Teddy at any risk,” Harry said.

“There will be minimal risk involved,” Death promised.

“Ok,” Harry said.

“I expected more of a fight,” Death rasped, almost amused.

Harry said nothing.

“The humans felt me,” Death said. “They assumed it was you but I went against code to show myself to you, it took power from me. That was picked up by the group of _superheroes_ ,” Death said the word ‘superheroes’ sarcastically. “If it will help you, I will create a trail of energy fluctuations away from here.”

“They weren’t following my magic?” Harry asked, shocked.

“No you silly fool,” Death snapped. “If they found your magic, they would have found every other wizard in the area!”

“Is there any way they’ll learn to track magic?”

“Unlikely but only time will tell,” Death said.

Harry nodded, feeling slightly better about the whole situation.

“If I do this,” Harry said hesitantly. “I won’t be able to die?”

“Not in the manner you are thinking,” Death admitted. “The dead will not leave you, you will be free to interact with the deceased if you so wished.”

“No, it wouldn’t be real,” thoughts of the resurrection stone came to mind.

“They would, you would enter the abode of those past and during that interaction is would be as real as if they were alive. Spirits do not just disappear after their body has gone,” Death pointed out.

“What would happen to me?” Harry asked.

“You would have the freedom of choice. If you wished to, you could continue with this life and grow with those around you. Or you could embrace your title publicly and you would stay as you are. There is no time limit on this choice. You can decide to live different lives and interact with humans as you wished.”

“If I say no?” Harry asked.

“If you choose to reject the title now, you will continue your life as you are. Once you pass you will be given another chance to embrace your true title,” Death said.

“But ideally you want me to do it now?”

“Indeed,” Death nodded.

“Ok,” Harry shrugged. “I’ll do it. I don’t feel like I have much of a choice but I’ll do it.”

“You will gain a power increase,” Death warned. “You will have new abilities to control and you will need composure to handle everything.”

“What abilities?”

“You will get a selection of my own abilities. They will arrive in due time, you should have the power of sight straight away. This will enable you to view how close a person is to their deathbed. It is almost an outline around a person,” Death explained. “White indicates there is no death in sight whereas black indicates a warning. That person would be likely to die soon.”

Harry nodded, slightly overwhelmed with the new information.

“Before you sleep, gather all three items. Keep them nearby. Put this ring on and tomorrow you will have your title. There may be a few changes to yourself, however, they should not be noticeable,” Death said, he placed a blackened ring next to Harry on the bed. “If you wish to talk, call for me.”

“Wait,” Harry called. “Last time you were here. Why did I see my memories?”

“They were my own memories,” Death answered. “I wished for you to know that you were not as alone as you believed. I could not interfere much but I did watch over you.”

Death faded from Harry’s view.

A lump formed in Harry’s throat, he felt oddly touched at Death’s words.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Having followed Death’s instructions, Harry became locked within his mind. His memories flashed around in his mind and merged with newly found knowledge. Harry re-watched Death’s memories of his childhood once more and felt the urge to scream in anger at the actions those around him had taken.

Harry caught glimpses into his friend’s childhood, the striking contrast of their upbring and his made him feel sick. Harry’s resolve hardened. He grew more determined to do something. He wanted to let his anger break free.

It was this mood that Harry woke in. It was this mood that made most of the belongings in Harry’s room explode as soon as his eyes opened.

Shocked at the commotion around him, Harry took deep breaths. He worked on reducing his anger as George ran into the room, wand ready.

“Bloody hell,” he whispered.

“Bad dream,” was all Harry said to explain what had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter felt all over the place.  
> I spent most of last night and this morning working on the chapter after this, so this one is a bit late because I thought the next chapter was more interesting and fun to write. Hopefully this one isn't too bad.


	16. Life Isn't Fair

Harry had gotten a shock when he looked properly at George. The man did not look much different, although there was an air of coldness around him and a dim white light surrounding him. Harry wasn’t sure how he knew, but he knew that George was healthy physically. The man was still suffering but he was nowhere as close to this death than he had been a few years ago.

It was a huge relief when Harry had pushed his way past George to see Teddy still in his bed. The child had a bright white outline surrounding him.

“What happened?” George asked, his hand on Harry’s shoulder.

“I – It was a bad dream,” Harry said shakily.

“What happened?”

“I – I saw everyone die,” Harry said honestly. He saw George’s face pale drastically in the dark light.

“It was a long time ago,” George said.

“Something is happening George,” Harry protested. “I – I need you to help me.”

“What is going on Harry?”

“Watch Teddy. I’ll – I need a moment,” Harry said, not meeting George’s eyes.

“Harry,” George said loudly, taking hold of Harry’s arm. “You cannot just leave.”

“Did you not see what I just did?” Harry said just as loudly as George. “I cannot put that child in harm’s way. I did that with too many people.”

“Let’s clean everything up,” George tried.

“I’ll be back, I promise. I just need air,” Harry said, pulling his arm free from George’s slack grip.

With a crack, Harry left George. George gave one last look towards Teddy, who was still fast asleep, before heading back into Harry’s room. With a worried frown, he began to fix the furniture that Harry had broken when he woke.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Harry wandered through the city for a while. He noticed everyone that he passed, the mixture of white and black outlines of those people. There was one person that made Harry stop.

It was a young woman, who was couldn’t be older than Harry was. The only thing that made her stand out was that her outline was a pure black. Harry stepped forward, wanting to talk to the woman, or at least have a chance to do something.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“You cannot interfere with what is foretold,” Death’s raspy voice said behind him.

“She’s going to die,” Harry pointed out, his eyes not leaving the woman’s.

“Yes, as is everyone around us,” Death said. “People live and people die. Some leave the Earth long before people think they should. Others leave long after they feel like they should. One person’s suffering can be endless and they will continue to live throughout this. Is it wrong to allow some the chance to leave before they begin to suffer? Would it be right to interrupt the balance and have someone else die in their place?”

“I can’t just leave her,” Harry said.

“Julie Mills,” Death supplied. “She was born into a family that relied of different substances to survive. She made her way through school with high grades, managed to achieve her dream of getting into college.”

“Where’s the downfall?” Harry asked, preparing himself for the sad end of the tale.

“There is none, it is just her time to leave. She has won her fight and achieved what she wanted to. Her story does not continue here.”

“That isn’t fair!” Harry protested.

“Perhaps not compared to those that live long and rich lives,” Death agreed. “Just like it isn’t fair that a new born will die moments after their birth. Life itself is not about how long a soul lives on Earth, it is about what that person does with their time.”

“Why are some people both black and white?” Harry asked, remembering George’s outline.

“Humans have the ability to make their own choices. Free will can be a difficult thing. Some choices bring the people closer to their death whilst other choices let them live until their set time is over,” Death explained.

Harry nodded numbly.

“Julie Mills… how is she going to die?” Harry asked, saying the woman’s name sent a flash through Harry’s mind. He heard a car’s breaks squeal before a sickening crash sounded and people’s shouts took over.

“You can figure that out,” Death said.

Harry felt sick, he wanted to believe that his thoughts were wrong, that he had made up the scenario in his mind.

“A car will hit her,” Harry said softly.

“Indeed, from there she will be met by a Reaper. She will be given the choice to move on and continue her journey elsewhere.”

Harry nodded numbly, he still felt sick. He wanted to leave before he actually saw the accident occur.

Without a word to Death, Harry left with another crack.

When Harry landed he promptly vomited what little he had in his stomach.

“Jesus Harry!” George exclaimed.

George worriedly got to work on cleaning up after Harry and getting the man back into bed.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The next day, Harry had slept in late, so George had taken Teddy to Squirts Horizon once again and let the other man sleep in.

It was late afternoon, Teddy having been collected by both Harry and George. Teddy was sat at the table in the living room. He was colouring a picture so he could take it the next day when there was a knock on the door.

Leaving Teddy to his colouring, knowing George was also in the room, Harry went to see who was there. Opening the door he almost shut it instantly. He would have done, if not for Tony using his free hand to stop the door shutting.

“Harry, just give me a minute,” he asked.

“You have sixty seconds,” Harry said, aware that George was stood in the living room doorway keeping an eye on both Harry and Teddy.

“I remembered that you mentioned something called a treacle tart. I’ve never had one so I did some research and found a place nearby that makes the stuff,” Tony held the box in his hand up. “I thought it could be a peace offering of sorts.”

A small part of what hate was left for Tony began to dissolve.

“Tony you cannot just show up with dessert and hope everything will be ok,” Harry said.

“I know,” Tony said. “That is why I have more offerings. I will let you use my kitchen whenever you want to cook, even if it is in the middle of the night. I’ll also invite you to movie nights, we’ll do children-friendly movie afternoons as well for Teddy. Plus I’ll personally have an endless supply of this stuff and anything else you want. Just don’t shut me out completely.”

It was with that, that Harry’s anger crumpled completely.

“Come in,” he said softly. “George, make sure everything’s presentable please,” Harry said, he gave George a look and nodded for Tony to follow him into the kitchen.

“George?” Tony asked, seeing the one-eared man disappear into a room.

“He’s a friend,” Harry said. “We go a long way back and I offered him a place to stay so he could escape from London for a bit.”

“What was so bad that happened in London?” Tony asked curiously.

“That isn’t something I can answer easily,” Harry said honestly. “A lot of it is high security, need-to-know basis. There were a lot of attacks around England and unfortunately a lot of people were caught in the middle of them.”

“You seem to know a lot about – you were part of it weren’t you?” Tony asked, realisation dawning in his mind.

“Yes,” Harry said. “Tony, I know you didn’t mean anything with what you did. I would have done the same,” Harry admitted. “I just don’t like being in the dark. If something concerns me I need to know. I grew up having everything around me happen with every single one of my actions planned. I left that behind with England.”

Tony watched silently, knowing that there was more that Harry wanted to say.

“I knew people I thought were friends. People I trusted. A lot of them were used as a tactic, or they used me and made me do what they wanted that way. Whilst I know that probably wasn’t your intention –”

“That’s what you automatically thought,” Tony finished, dread filling him.

Harry looked at Tony properly since he had arrived. He saw the mixture of black and white that made up Tony’s outline. It made Harry want to reach out and touch the man before he reminded himself that Tony was alive.

Not knowing what drove him, Harry pushed forward and moved his hand over Tony’s heart. Tony flinched slightly as Harry frowned.

“What’s this?” Harry asked, seeing the blackened parts of Tony’s outline pulse as Harry’s hand rested on his chest, over the faint blue light that Harry had noted as a part of Tony.

“It is –” Tony hesitated slightly. “It’s keeping me alive.”

Closing his eyes, Harry focused on Tony’s body under his hand. Recoiling in horror at what he found he looked at Tony and whispered, “what happened?”

Tony licked his lips, the slight nervousness looking out of place on him.

“I was in Afghanistan showing off a weapon. On the way back, a bomb went off. I was taken and asked to build a similar weapon for my captures. I made this,” Tony said, tapping his chest gently. “It stops the shrapnel in my body reaching my heart.”

Harry gingerly touched Tony again, almost afraid that he would harm him. Harry understood Death’s annoyance. Tony shouldn’t be alive, he was uncomfortably close to his deathbed, and yet, there was nothing apart from the metal dangerously close to his heart that was wrong.

Harry moved his hand to Tony’s cheek. The soft touch making both men relax. Bringing his face closer, Harry rested his forehead against Tony’s. Both men’s eyes closed, rejoicing in the closeness of each other.

“Harry?” George said the amusement clear in his voice. “I’m going to take Teddy out.”

“You don’t have to,” Harry said, moving back slightly from Tony, a dull blush on his cheeks.

“I know, but if I don’t I might die from second-hand cuteness,” George said, a playful look on his face.

“Go,” Harry groaned, Tony snickering slightly.

“Tony,” George said seriously, all joking gone. “You hurt him again, I don’t care if it’s an accident, I will make you regret it.”

With that said, George was gone.

Tony pulled Harry close again, relishing in the fact Harry allowed him to.

“You look exhausted,” Harry muttered.

“It’s been a busy week,” Tony said, not wanting to admit that he had made himself busy on purpose.

“Come on,” Harry said, taking Tony’s hand.

“Where to?”

“We are going to sit down and you can just relax,” Harry said softly, leading Tony into the living room. “I’ll put something on and we can just kill some time.”

Harry pushed Tony backwards, sitting him on the couch. Harry, glad George had not put the blanket away the previous night, sat next to Tony, throwing the blanket over the two of them.

“Tangled is in,” Harry said, knowing that Teddy had watched it the previous night with George.

“Never seen it.”

“Disgraceful,” Harry said as he shook his head. “Disney films are brilliant.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Tony smirked.


	17. Disney and Articles

“Do you always sing along to the songs or is that just for me?” Tony teased after Harry sung along with a few of Tangled’s songs.

“Shut up,” Harry said with a blush. “I like the music and I normally watch it with Teddy, who sings along as well.”

“It’s adorable,” Tony smiled.

“I hate you,” Harry said, his smile betraying his true feelings.

The two feel silent, comfortably watching the film continue.

“That horse is cool!” Tony laughed.

“Maximus is,” Harry agreed.

“A bit too justice obsessed but he’s still great,” Tony mused. “He’d be a handful I think.”

Tony snorted as Rapunzel hit Flynn with a frying pan. That snort turned into a loud laugh when she hit him again after he opened his eyes.

Harry watched Tony as he laughed watching the film, not able to stop his smile at the man’s joy.

“What the – that is not a smoulder!” Tony exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

“Just watch the film,” Harry said with a laugh, nudging Tony’s side.

Tony moved his arm around Harry and pulled him closer. “I’ll admit that this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

“I love this bit,” Harry said, unconsciously moving closer to Tony as ‘ _I’ve Got A Dream_ ’ began to play.

Glancing up at Tony, Harry couldn’t help but laugh at the man’s expression.

“I –” Tony shook his head, not sure what to think of the whole scene before him.

“Let them dream,” Harry said gently.

“I’m not saying they can’t dream. I just cannot see any of that happening. Look at them!” Tony exclaimed.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

George was relieved when he returned a few hours later to hear laughing and happy chatter. Harry’s behaviour over the past few days had worried the man, it was unusual to see Harry so sullen since the war had ended.

“Tony!” Teddy shouted as he heard the man’s voice. Before George could stop him, Teddy ran into the living room and jumped onto both of the men.

“Hey buddy,” Tony said with a groan.

“Tony! Tony! Tony!” Teddy cried as he jumped on the man.

“Teddy, calm down,” Harry said with a smile.

George saw Teddy wedge himself between the two men. Tony began to ask Teddy what he had been up to.

“Shush!” George heard Harry hiss as a voice said ‘ _Mamma, I don’t have time for dancing_ ’. “I love this song.”

George shook his head a smile on his lips, he left the two men and the child sat in front of the television and went to the kitchen to start preparing food.

George faintly hear both Teddy and Harry sing along to ‘Almost There’.

It gave George a strange feeling to listen to the small group in the room, they were happily discussing the film and laughing along. It was something that George had missed since he had left the Burrow, the constant chatter had been long gone. Although, when Fred was still there, it was manageable. Since Fred’s death, George had been in almost constant silence.

“I’ve got friends on the other side!” George heard Teddy’s voice shout.

It was with a heavy heart that George kept his distance from the group in the other room.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

_Tony Stark – Hidden Family?_

_Tony Stark, a well know man that rarely has any member of the opposite sex outside of his select group of friends and colleagues, was witnessed being within the presence of a strange man for multiple days. Whilst not much is known about this mystery man, it is clear that there is some familiarity between the two as such domestic activities, such as shopping, were captured by our photographers._

_Our resident genius has been known to have relations with both members of sex, however, these relations do not normally extend over several days or include such public activities. It is this reason, my dear readers, that I am enquiring about Tony Stark’s true motives behind his recent encounters._

_Perhaps this is indeed a new man who has settled down. Recent sexual escapades have not been reported after all. Continue reading on page 12 for the full story._

The picture joining the short snippet of the story included Tony taking a bag from a black haired man as child stood next to them. Both Steve and Bruce recognised the man in the photo instantly.

“Have you seen this?” Clint asked, gesturing to the magazine he had thrown onto the table. “Is this why he has been disappearing a lot?”

Natasha sat at the table, she picked the magazine up, reading the snippet closely.

“It’s all speculation,” she pointed out.

“He did bring that man here the other day,” Steve said. “Harry, I think it was.”

“It is,” Bruce said, knowing there was no point in denying the fact that Tony knew the man.

“Are they together?” Clint asked.

“That’s between Tony and Harry,” Bruce said firmly, interjecting before Steve spoke.

“I cannot believe he let people take that picture and use it,” Natasha said, knowing how much control Tony could have over the press.

“Where is he anyway?” Steve asked.

“Probably out playing family,” Clint said, still annoyed that Tony had yet to stabilise the new arrows he had been developing.

“Sir is currently preoccupied,” Jarvis interrupted the team.

“Helpful as always Jarvis,” Bruce said with a shake of his head.

“I try Dr. Banner,” Jarvis said sarcastically.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

George collect the group once their film had finished, he sent Teddy upstairs to clean up before he went to eat.

“Will you come for movie night?” Tony asked, seeing George leave the two of them along.

“When?” Harry asked.

“Tonight if you want,” Tony said, not wanting to say goodbye to Harry any time soon.

“I don’t know about tonight,” Harry said, looking to the door that George had just disappeared through.

“I’ll let you pick what we watch,” Tony promised. “And I’ll get all the junk food we could ever want.”

“Promise not to scan me without letting me know?” Harry said.

“I swear I won’t,” Tony said seriously.

“And not to pry into any personal stuff without my knowledge,” Harry tested.

“I’ll completely wait for you to tell me everything,” Tony said.

“Then we will see,” Harry said.

George was more than willing to watch Teddy for the night, offering Harry the chance to enjoy himself. He all but pushed the two adults out of the house shouting, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t!”

“Where’s your car?” Harry asked, having seen it the previous time Tony had appeared at the house out of the blue.

“I walked,” Tony shrugged. “You don’t mind walking do you?” he asked, taking a hold of Harry’s hand.

“Not at all,” Harry said, letting his fingers be entwined with Tony’s.

“So what time is your curfew?” Tony teased.

“Don’t you know?” Harry gasped. “I need to be home before midnight otherwise the magic spell I used will become undone and everything I worked for will be ruined.”

“We cannot let that happen,” Tony said seriously.

“In all seriousness,” Harry said. “George is alright sorting Teddy out in the morning. So the curfew doesn’t matter tonight.”

“Brilliant,” Tony decided.

“Excuse me,” a soft voice said, interrupting the two men.

They both paused, hands still linked together.

“Are you –” she began breathlessly, looking at Harry with the familiar flick up to this hairline.

“I might be,” Harry said. .

“I knew it!” she gasped. “I cannot believe it’s you! I thought you lived in London still.”

“I moved here but I’d rather keep it quiet for now,” Harry said honestly to the young girl.

“Of course,” she gasped. “Can I – am I ok to let me friends know? I start school soon and they won’t believe it. We heard all about you.”

Tony frowned, rather confused by the whole conversation the two were having.

“You can tell them once school starts,” Harry said. “I want to finish settling in here and I’d rather not be run out of town just yet.”

“Of course Mr. Potter!” the girl promised.

“It’s just Harry,” Harry said to the teenager.

“Can I have a picture?” she asked.

“I guess,” Harry said.

She squealed and took out her phone. Ignoring Tony, she positioned herself so she could take a picture of her and Harry. Harry smiled politely as the girl fumbled with her phone before running off to get home.

“That was strange,” Tony said, still majorly confused.

Harry blushed.

“I had to leave England, it would happen a lot,” Harry said.

“I guess this is included in the high security, need-to-know stuff?” Tony asked, nodding when Harry nodded. Tony reminded himself of his promise not to push anything Harry wouldn’t talk about.

“So, Harry Potter,” Tony smiled. “It has a nice ring to it.”

“It could be a lot worse,” Harry pointed out.

“That is true,” Tony agreed.

The two continued the walk to the tower in almost silence as they both focused more on their conflicting thoughts. Tony suppressed his urge to press Harry for any type of detail whilst Harry himself was mentally complaining about how difficult it was not to give in and let Tony in the know.

“Welcome back Sirs,” Jarvis said once the two stepping into the building’s elevator.

“Hello,” Harry said in response whilst Tony asked where everyone was.

“Everyone is currently on the communal floor Sir, they were discussing theories on your love life,” Jarvis said, making Harry make a slight choking sound as Tony opened and closed his mouth several times.

“Should I ask?” Tony asked once he regained the ability to speak.

“They found the article that was written about yourself indicating that you were living secretly with another family,” Jarvis said.

“Oh god,” Tony sighed.

“George showed me a similar one,” Harry pointed out. “My friends back home had a bit of fun with the idea of the story, mostly pointing out how silly of me it was to let the picture happen,” Harry said, thinking back to his floo call to the Burrow.

“I imagine I’ll get a similar talk,” Tony said.

The elevator made a noise and the door opened.

“Tony!” Steve said, stepping forward as soon as the doors opened. He paused upon seeing Harry. “Pleasure to see you one again Harry.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you as well Steve,” Harry said, falling back onto the politeness that he had been taught.

“Time to face the music,” Tony stage whispered to Harry, who smiled. “Bruce! I hope you weren’t gossiping about me!” Tony scolded lightly upon seeing the fidgeting man.

“He just confirmed what the article said about your boy toy,” Natasha said, looking at Harry critically.

Harry matched her raised brow.

“Boy toy?” Tony repeated, unaware of what was happening between Harry and Natasha.

“I take it you are spy assassin number one,” Harry said to Natasha, drawing Tony’s attention to him. “Spy assassin number two,” he added, nodding at Clint. “Magical god still not here?”

“Thor is getting ready. He didn’t want to partake in the ambush,” Bruce said.

“Right, and as much fun as it would be to refer to each of you as spy one and two, I think it would get old rather quickly,” Harry said. He had picked up on how to act around people that were somewhat hostile and these two certainly gave him that impression.

“Barton,” Clint said.

“Clint,” Tony added with a roll of his eyes.

“Natasha,” Natasha had supplied.

“Brilliant, I’m Harry.”

“Harry’s staying for movie night,” Tony said to the awkwardly silence room, slightly enjoying the looks of annoyance shot his way for inviting someone with no warning to the others.


	18. Thor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is late today but my sister was round and she brought her daughter so I was playing with the baby for most of the day. I do slightly apologise but it was a nice little break for constantly thinking about the story (which I don't really mind that much).

“Tony!” Thor announced loudly as he entered the room. The other Avengers rolled their eyes and ignored the man, each going back to the food that had arrived moments before.

“Hey big guy,” Tony said, struggling slightly as Thor enveloped him in a hug.

Harry watched with wide eyes. The man, who must be Thor, had the brightest outline that Harry had seen so far today. Both spy one and two had a mixture of white and black in their outline, indicating the dangers that their job held. Bruce, however, had a mostly white outline, with only a few speckles of a dark grey.

Once free, Tony gestured towards Harry, “This is Harry.”

Thor turned to the man he had not yet payed attention to. Thor stayed silent, his eyes calculating as he looked the man over.

“Big guy?” Tony asked, drawing everyone’s attention to Thor.

“I am Thor Odinson, protector of Midgard,” Thor said, he stepped forward and offered his hand to the younger man, having grown used to this custom.

“Harry Potter,” Harry said softly, he felt the urge to proclaim his newly achieved title. Harry knew that it was unwise in the current company, plus a part of him was aware that Thor already knew.

“Harry Potter,” Thor had repeated, his eyes losing their calculating and slightly challenging stance. “It is an honour. Word of your achievements had graced Asgard. Many were shocked at your skill. I can see you were worthy of their praise.”

Harry stiffened, so he did know at the very least who Harry was. The other Avengers within the room were watched confused and weary. If talk of Harry had reached Thor, what was this man capable of?

“That praise was likely misplaced,” Harry said purposefully.

“Nonsense. A one so young being able to battle as you had,” Thor’s wide smile lessened. “My brother would speak highly of you.”

Clint’s hand tightened around the cup he was holding. Any talk of Loki in his presence would produce a similar response.

“That battle was neither intentional nor an actual battle,” Harry said firmly, thinking back to all the times he had come face-to-face with Voldemort. “It was a man who had believed himself to have defeated Death.”

“Each realm was restless when the news of this man reached us. We celebrated with your people when his downfall occurred. You won the respect of many people Harry Potter,” Thor said gently. “However, it seems that there is more to hear, I would delight in hearing your story personally.”

Harry backed up slightly, he felt Tony’s hand on his back, and it gave him some strength. His previous words had happened without his consent, his magic bubbled under his skin leaving an icy feeling in its wake. He felt a stab of betrayal as Death had not prepared him for people that could tell his status at a glance.

“An exchange of tales would be interesting Thor Odinson. Perhaps at a later time,” Harry said, careful not to completely disallow Thor’s request, whilst at the same time hoping not to have said too much.

With a slight bow, Thor returned his attention to his fellow team, greeting them each enthusiastically.

“That was interesting,” Tony said.

“Tony,” Harry said softly, a weary tone creeping in.

“I know, I won’t pry just yet,” Tony said.

“Thank you.”

“I am curious though,” Tony said out of the corner of his mouth. “The others will be as well.”

“I know,” Harry said, part of him regretting the decision to join Tony tonight.

“If Thor trusts you and speaks highly of you, then there is no trouble,” Tony pointed out. “The god of thunder is not one to challenge over such trivial matters.”

Harry nodded, slightly uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry about him,” Bruce said, moving over to the two men. “Whatever Thor knows about you will be secret unless he feels like it’s a threat.”

“That’s something I guess,” Harry said, shifting slightly.

Tony patted Harry’s back before leaving him with Bruce. Tony walked over to his other team mates and began to split the food and treats up.

“Should I question what happened?” Bruce asked, fidgeting slightly.

“When?” Harry asked, his nervousness leaving ever so slightly. Something about Bruce reminded him of Remus, perhaps it was the nervous way they both held themselves.

“The other day, Tony wasn’t in a good place since he brought you here.”

Harry frowned, “he told me about the tests you both were doing,” he said shortly, not wanting to dwell on that too much.

“Ah,” was all Bruce said. “If it – if it helps any, I pushed for it. Tony was adamant about you not being a threat but –”

“You weren’t so sure,” Harry said, his mind going back to his first meeting with Bruce. “I don’t know why I reacted like I did,” he said honestly.

“You have control of static shocks?” Bruce asked, trying not to show him interest too much.

Harry licked his lips, avoiding Bruce’s eyes, “I guess that my stress at the time didn’t help the situation. Can I ask what’s up with super spies over there?” Harry asked, seeing Clint look over to him.

“What you two talking about?” Tony asked, walking back over with a large bowl of popcorn.

“I was just asking about Natasha and Clint,” Harry said, thankful that Bruce didn’t completely disagree with his statement.

“Those two?” Tony said. “They just don’t like not knowing things. Natasha especially, she tends to be the information gatherer. Clint just sticks to her side like glue lately.”

“Sir, everything is prepared,” Jarvis’ voice said.

“Great! Just follow along,” Tony winked at Harry. “Film time!” Tony called, shuffling the Avengers into the home theatre.

“Young mage,” Thor said once everyone had left the room, moving to stand with Harry, who had yet to move since Tony left him.

“Thor,” Harry said, slightly nervous about being around the man. At least the rest of the Avengers were now elsewhere.

“You do not have to fear,” Thor said. “I merely wish to question your wishes. I know there are laws in place on Midgard surround mages such as yourself.”

“They shouldn’t know,” Harry said.

“I do not understand why the laws are in place,” Thor admitted. “In Asgard we celebrate those with additional powers.”

“Not here,” Harry said. “It is freakish and unwanted. People will either hate us because we are different or they will want to use us to try and replicate our magic or they will use us for their own gain.”

“Tis a shame,” Thor said sadly.

“It is,” Harry agreed. “Although having known people who were cast from their families due to their differences, it is better this way.”

“It is better to live a life full of secrets?” Thor proposed.

Harry didn’t respond. He had questioned it himself, the magical world was better hidden. The positives of that far outweighed the consequences.

“Are you two coming?” Tony asked, poking his head back into the room.

“Aye!” Thor said, he clapped Harry on the back before leaving Harry behind and joining the others.

“You alright?” Tony asked, moving over to Harry.

Harry nodded, suddenly overwhelmed with a strong emotion.

“You don’t have to stay,” Tony pointed out, seeing the confliction in Harry’s face. “I know they can be a bit much.”

“It isn’t them,” Harry started to say. Seeing the look Tony shot him he changed his statement, “It isn’t just them. I – I don’t like the fact I’m keeping secrets from you.”

“Hey, hey,” Tony said, placing his hands on Harry’s shoulders. “It’s alright. We haven’t known each other that long and I take it your secrets are a lot more important than anything I’ve already told you.”

“It doesn’t feel fair,” Harry whispered. “I’m just tired.”

“Its fine green eyes,” Tony said as he pulled Harry into his arms.

“Sorry,” Harry muttered.

“Shush,” Tony said.

“We can leave them if you want,” Tony suggested.

Harry took a deep breath.

“No, I’m ok. I just needed to breathe,” Harry said.

“Well come on,” Tony urged. “Thor decided he wanted to watch the Hunger Games and we’ll miss some probably crucial points if we aren’t there for the start of it,” Tony said.

Tony lead Harry into the room, they both claimed a two person seat. Harry noticed the outlines of each person with a higher intensity in the darkened room. Making a conscious effort to ignore them, Harry noticed their intensity dim around him.

Natasha and Clint were sat together, both sharing a large bowl of popcorn. Thor sat by himself, looking to the large screen with eagerness in his eyes as a plate of unidentifiable food sat on his lap in the dim light. Bruce sat nearby Harry, on one of the seats left available. He had no food with him, only a bottle of water that he kept in his hands.

Tony moved slightly in his seat next to Harry, he once again moved his arm around the other man. As the film began, each occupant in the room soon got drawn into the action.

There were several comments about the fashion sense of the Capitol, as well as the disgust expressed about the Hunger Games themselves. Something that all the Avengers agreed on without any arguments were that every single one of these children were too young for such things to happen to them. Thor was tempted to demand the film be turned off once he realised that these games were showed throughout the world and viewed as entertainment.

Harry said nothing throughout the film, watching in horror once Katniss volunteered to take her sisters place.

As the extent of the corruption of the Capitol, Bruce grew more and more tense. Both him and Harry were reacting in similar ways to the film and the information given to them.

Tony, noticing Harry’s rigidness, moved his arm from around the man and took his hand. Tony continued to rub soothing circles on the back of Harry’s hand for the rest of the film, partially prepared to stop the show if he noticed Harry growing more distressed. Tony had also noticed Bruce, however, he knew that Bruce would willingly remove himself from the room if he felt his control slipping. Tony couldn’t be sure that Harry would do the same.

It was with a sigh of relief on both Tony and Harry’s part when the film ended. Harry had grown tenser as the film drew to its close, a fact that was shared among the other Avengers.

“Jarvis,” Tony called out as the credits began to roll. “Put Tangled on.”

“Tony, we watched that earlier,” Harry protested as all the Avengers turned to stare at Tony.

“Yeah, but it will be a better note to end the night on,” Tony pointed out. “It’s fun and light-hearted. Plus, I want to see what they think of the smoulder!”

Harry shook his head whilst the others just looked at Tony as if he was crazy.


	19. Half Truths

Harry woke in a dim room. It took him a moment before he recalled the previous night. The Avengers had enjoyed Tangled, or at least the half of it that Harry had seen before he had fallen asleep.

"Young one," Thor said, seeing Harry move as he woke.

"Where's everyone else?" Harry asked, opening his eyes and sitting up.

"They chose to retire for the night and then a request for Tony came through and he regretfully left for his lab," Thor explained, watching Harry close his eyes.

"I should just leave then," Harry concluded.

"Tony would not like you to leave without a goodbye," Thor said with a look of confusion on his face. "He doubted you would wake before dawn."

Harry nodded, still unsure around Thor.

"Your magic is different to those of Midgard," Thor said suddenly. "I have encountered many mages from this realm and yet yours is different."

"I don't know what to tell you," Harry said honestly.

"Your magic is still new," Thor continued. "Most mages such as you would have years of control around them."

"I got an upgrade so to speak," Harry said. He watched Thor tilt his head.

"It is connected to what SHIELD is monitoring," Thor concluded. "I could not place the taint in the area. It is different to your magic and yet it is similar."

"SHIELD?" Harry asked.

"They give information to us and monitor potential threats," Thor supplied.

"Right," Harry said. "What they are trying to find is not evil, there is no danger," he said strongly.

"Without knowing whom the cause, they will continue to look," Thor said.

"It's –" Harry paused. "It was Death."

"Death?" Thor repeated with a hint of shock. "You know of him?"

"I –" Harry fidgeted in the seat. He was unsure of what to say as well as the correct way to say it.

Thor seemed to understand Harry's trouble.

"As if we had never met," he said. "I am Thor Odinson of Asgard, protector of Midgard."

Harry gave in, "Harry Potter, Master of Death," the words left his lips easily. He had wanted to speak them when Thor had first introduced himself, quelling the urge had taken a large effort on his part.

"Master of Death," Thor said softly. His eyes had dulled, and he bowed his head. "A great sacrifice indeed."

"You know of the Master of Death?" Harry asked. He had heard back from Jake on the issue and the man had not been able to find more than legends that Harry had already known.

"I know tales. Ones that were thought to be untrue," Thor said. "The Master of Death was more a story told to children. I understand you know nothing of those tales?"

"I know barely anything," Harry admitted. "Here, the Master of Death is linked to three objects, the person that possesses all three would because the Master."

Thor shook his head. "The Master of Death is foretold before the start of life. There can only be one Master of Death in each realm and, if so chosen, a companion. Trials are also foretold, only once a possibly candidate completes those trials, they are given the chance to take their rightful place."

A bitter part of Harry's mind embraced Thor's words with a dark thought about his whole life being one big test.

"There is more to the tale," Thor said. "The Master of Death is destined to do great things. They have the abilities of the dead and they are beyond anything ever seen."

"Thank you," Harry said, stopping Thor from continuing. It was not as though he did not appreciate the information, it was just too much for the current time. "I should go find Tony."

"I apologise if I overstepped your boundaries. I am still learning Midgard customs," Thor said.

"It's perfectly ok Thor Odinson," Harry said, feeling slightly sorry for the god of thunder as he pushed himself to stand up. "I would still like to take you up on the offer to trade our stories at a later date."

"I would enjoy that," Thor said, standing.

Harry shook Thor's hand once again before turning to leave.

"Tony would not betray you," Thor said suddenly, just before Harry disappeared. "I know of his reputation but he would not tell any secrets you chose to share with him."

Having stopped momentarily to let Thor finish what he was saying, Harry continued. He left Thor stood in the home theatre and made his way towards the elevator.

"Hello Sir," Jarvis said as Harry entered the elevator.

"It's Harry," he said automatically.

"I apologise Harry," Jarvis said. "Are you wishing to join Mr. Stark?"

"Please," Harry said. It was strange to be without Tony in his home. Every other time Harry had walked around, there was Tony talking either to him or to Jarvis.

"Thank you Jarvis," Harry said when the elevator stopped.

The contrast between the volume level in the lab and the rest of the house was overwhelming. Whilst the rest of the house was silence, the lab had loud music on that stayed for a moment before silence hit.

"Harry, you're awake," Tony said.

Harry nodded, watching Tony as he worked on something electronic. "Thor let me know you were here."

"Hmm, the big guy stayed nearby then?" Tony asked. Looking up and seeing Harry's nod, he frowned. "He didn't give you any more trouble did he?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"He said something to you before the film," Tony pointed out, folding his arms across his chest.

"He didn't say anything bad," Harry said.

"Well whatever he said it made your mood change," Tony pointed out.

"He asked a question," Harry explained. "One I wasn't sure how to answer."

"It had a big effect on you," Tony said, slightly disbelievingly.

Harry nodded, "I just have a lot of think about. I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

"Because of me?" Tony asked.

Harry sighed, looking around the room.

"I don't know what I'm doing because I left everything I knew in England," Harry said. "Is there anywhere we can just sit and talk?" Harry asked.

Tony nodded, worry coating his face. He nodded towards a back room. In the back room was a single bed as well as a black couch.

Harry moved to the couch and sat down.

"I – when I was a baby my parents were killed," Harry started.

Tony moved and sat next to Harry, turning to face him.

"You don't have to tell me anything," Tony said, not wanting Harry to feel like he was pushing him.

"I'd rather cut down how many lies and half-truths you have," Harry said with a grim smile. "The – man, that killed my parents tried to kill me. In the process he hurt himself and a lot of people thought he had died."

"How old were you?" Tony's voice was soft.

"I was just over a year old," Harry said, his tone going monotone. "I was sent to live with some relatives…" Harry trailed off. "I went to a boarding school when I turned eleven. There I learnt about my parents and –"

"You never knew about your parents?" Tony asked.

"Not anything that was truthful," Harry said grimly, luckily, Tony had got the idea and didn't press the topic any further. "When I was fourteen, the man that tried to kill me came back. He murdered a friend of mine," Harry paused once again.

Tony took Harry's hand. He knew there was a lot more to the story but he also knew that Harry was struggling already.

"The year after that – no one believed he was still alive. I was hailed a liar and insane. That year – that year my godfather was killed."

Tony watched Harry, giving him his full attention. It was obvious to Tony that Harry hadn't talked about any of this in detail before. Part of him wanted to stop Harry here, yet another part wanted to let him continue.

"The next year, the headmaster of the boarding school was murdered. I – I didn't go back the next year. The school was too much of a danger, with the headmaster gone it left too much of a chance," Harry said adamantly. "My friends and I made our way around England, we stuck to forests and camped."

Tony squeezed Harry's hand. He was unsure of how all of this had gotten Thor's attention, the praise Tony could understand. Looking at Harry, it amazed Tony.

"We ended up going back to the school… the rest of the students were being hurt," Harry's eyes dulled even more, they grew a haunted look. "We tried to help but someone told him. He brought a lot of people and – many people died that shouldn't have. Children died. I couldn't let it continue," Harry said.

Anxiety began to grow in Tony's chest, he had a feeling he knew where this was going. It felt like it was the same thought process he had at the end of New York, desperation leading his actions.

"I went to him, he passed a message saying he would wait and give us chance to heal and collect the dead. Teddy's – Teddy's parents were there. I saw everyone laid dead. I had to put a stop to it."

"What happened?" Tony asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"He tried to kill me," Harry said. "I thought he had managed it," he admitted. "At the time, I was happy. It was over… I just – it didn't happen that way. We both were hurt and I managed to kill him using his own weapon," Harry said dully, telling this to Tony, especially ignoring all the magic was easier.

"You managed to kill him?" Tony clarified, his throat dry. He hated the thought of Harry nearly dying.

"Yes. Not before more people got hurt though," Harry said. "I took Teddy, I left my friends and I ended up leaving England. There was hardly anywhere I went where someone didn't know my name or my face – or my scar," Harry said bitterly. "I needed to leave."

"I can understand that," Tony said. He pulled Harry's hand closer to his body. "You went through a lot."

"If it weren't for Teddy…" Harry trailed off, the sentence hung in the air ominously.

"Well, I for one and glad the kid is around," Tony said firmly.

"So am I," Harry said softly.

"Good," Tony said. He brought his free hand up to his eye and rubbed it.

"You're tired," Harry pointed out.

"I'm alright," Tony protested.

"No, you're tired. It is the middle of the night," Harry pointed out.

"I had work –"

"Surely it can wait until the morning," Harry said. "Jarvis, would you be alright directing me to Tony's bed?" Harry asked, a faint blush raising in his cheeks. "I think Tony needs sleep."

"Of course Sir," Jarvis responded.

"Come on," Harry said, standing and pulling Tony up with the hand he was still holding.

"You can't just override my AI," Tony said, the amusement clear in his voice.

"I just did," Harry teased. "Bedtime."

"Whatever you say sweetheart," Tony said, dutifully following Harry into the elevator. "Although, if you wanted to see my room you could have just asked."

"Shut up," Harry murmured, pointedly not glancing at Tony, knowing he would find a large smirk on the man's face.

Once in the elevator, Tony pulled Harry to him and gave the man a kiss.

"Thank you for telling me," he said softly.

"You have some serious mood swings," Harry said dryly, causing Tony to laugh and kiss him again.

"Would you object to being carried bridal style?" Tony asked, a pensive look on his face.

"Very much so," Harry said with a smile.

"You're no fun," Tony pouted.

The lights were already dim when they reached Tony's space. Tony took over, ignoring Jarvis' voice that had spoken to Harry. He led the black-haired man the rest of the way.

"Right," Harry said. "Bed."

"I'm not tired," Tony whined.

"Bull."

"I'm not!"

"Tony-Whatever-Your-Middle-Name-Is-Stark," Harry said sternly.

"Anthony Edward Stark," Tony supplied with a large smile. "Tony's the nickname."

"Anthony Edward Stark," Harry said, still in his stern tone. "You are tired so you will go to bed."

"Whatever you say, although I do have a condition," Tony said as he took his t-shirt off. The faint blue light of the arc reactor showing clearly now.

"Mmhmm?" Harry was too distracted to fully create words. Tony had told him about it but it had been the first time he had seen what was keeping him alive.

"Join me," Tony said, all flirty tones gone. "You didn't get much of a chance to sleep and I'm not kicking you out at this time."

"Get in bed," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. He was thankful for the dark room since it meant that Tony couldn't see his smile.


	20. The Hair Is Out Of The Bag

Tony opened his eyes slowly, his head was groggy from sleeping. It had been a long time since Tony had woken up so slowly, normally he would wake and be ready to go within a few moments. He shifted slightly, only to find his movement limited.

Tony turned his head and looked down to see Harry tangled with him under the covers. The room was brightly lit, the sun shining through the windows.

Harry's hair was messier than normal, his face open and exposed without his glasses on. Tony watched as Harry's eyes fluttered slightly, it was the most peaceful he had seen the British man.

Harry opened his eyes slowly, his body moving closer to Tony's.

"Good morning," Tony said softly.

"Hi," Harry said shyly, staring at Tony.

"Sleep well?"

"Amazingly," Harry said, a slight blush forming in his cheeks as he realised he should probably move away from the man.

Tony wrapped his arms around Harry, pulling him closer.

"So, now I have you in my bed what should I do?" he mused.

Harry chuckled. "Let me go because I have a child that I need to check on?" Harry suggested.

"Spoil sport," Tony tutted. He let go of Harry.

"Sorry," Harry said, pushing himself up. "I need to make sure he hasn't killed George."

Harry kissed Tony briefly on the lips before leaving the bed, aware that Tony's eyes were on him. The baggy trousers that Harry had chosen to wear the previous day had slipped down his waist.

"Give me time to wake up and have a drink and I'll take you back," Tony offered, shifting slightly as he sat up.

"I'll take that offer," Harry said.

As Harry turned to get his t-shirt, Tony moved behind him and pulled him close once again.

"Tony," Harry complained half-heartedly. Unconsciously, Harry wriggled against Tony, causing the man to groan and lower his head into Harry's hair.

"If you're wanting to leave soon, you shouldn't do that," he warned.

Harry turned in Tony's arms.

"I would love to stay longer," he admitted softly, "I just –"

"Teddy," Tony answered.

Harry nodded. He kissed Tony once more, delighting in the spark that came from Tony pulling his body flush against his.

"God, I want you," Tony gasped as he pulled away from the kiss.

"Why, Mr. Stark," Harry said playfully. "I am not that type of man."

Tony groaned again, resting his head on Harry's shoulder.

"You're going to kill me."

With a bit of coaxing from Harry, Tony finally let the man go and set about preparing himself for the rest of the day.

Clint was already in the kitchen when the two had arrived. Tony set about making himself a drink, offering one to Harry, who refused.

"Fury wants to talk to you," Clint said once Tony had finished his coffee.

"I'll get back to him," Tony shrugged.

"He was insistent," Clint said.

Tony shrugged again and said, "I don't follow orders well."

"Tony, I have news to share with you," Thor said as he entered the room.

"What is it big guy?" Tony asked.

"It is about the entity we are trying to find," Thor said, making Harry freeze.

"Got a lead?" Tony asked.

"The entity is not hostile," Thor said firmly. "We should stop the search."

"How do you know?" Clint asked.

"I recognise the energy left," Thor said, his eyes moving to Harry's briefly.

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"The entity ensures a natural order, to trace it would be impossible," Thor said.

"If the entity was a natural one, then why haven't we come across it before?" Tony asked.

"Perhaps -" Harry begun. "Perhaps it had to do something out of the ordinary. Which left a trace."

"Are we talking supernatural?" Tony asked, his eyebrow raised.

"That's a theory," Clint said. "We still need to look though."

"You shall not find it," Thor said.

"Fury won't accept that," Clint pointed out.

"He is a fool," Thor said firmly. "One does not simply look for higher beings."

"Higher beings?" Tony repeated, a doubtful tone in his voice.

"Aye, the energy was from a being that is from legend."

"No offence big guy but so are you," Tony pointed out.

"Should I go?" Harry asked, feeling slightly uneasy. He wasn't sure what Thor's intentions behind mentioning this was.

Tony looked from Thor to Harry.

"Do you know something about this?" he asked.

"I - why would I know something about this?" Harry asked, trying not to sound too defensive.

"Thor admitted he had no idea what this was when he first arrives, now he has an idea. After he met you, having known you or at least known of you," Tony pointed out.

"Harry -" Thor started.

"No, I asked Harry," Tony said.

"Don't you trust me?" Harry asked.

"I'm asking for some honesty," Tony said.

Harry glanced at each of the people in the room, Thor gave Harry an apologetic look. Clint watched with interest, not even attempting to hide his actions. Tony was staring at Harry, determined to wait for an answer.

"I know you aren't in danger. No one here is," Harry said finally, praying internally that he had not just made a mistake. "There is nothing bad happening… just something not normal."

"What is it we picked up?" Clint asked, unable to help himself.

"I cannot answer that," Harry said slowly, knowing that Death wouldn't appreciate being known of. "I give you my word that it is nothing bad," he said, looking Tony in the eyes.

"We can't just stop the search," Tony said.

"Tony -" Harry said.

"I apologise," Thor said. "I thought my word would be enough. It seems I mistook the trust the team had in me."

"It's ok," Harry said, turning to Thor.

Clint stood, still watching Harry with interest. A large part of him wanted to question the man in front of him that was still clearly not telling them everything.

"Sir, Director Fury is on the line," Jarvis said. "He requests your presence in the lab."

Tony sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Go," Thor said. "I will entertain our young friend out."

"Surely you aren't suggesting -"

"I trust Harry," Thor said firmly, cutting Clint's protest off.

"On your head be it," Clint shrugged.

"I'm not running just because he asked for me," Tony protested. "I'm going to take Harry back to his house and then we will have a team meeting and figure out what is happening."

"May I suggest," Thor said, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "That we include someone in on our background?"

Harry fidgeted.

Both Thor and Harry froze. Harry felt a wave of ice cold air brush past him.

"I have been informed to tell you the choice is purely yours. Neither outcome is without its challenges," a raspy voice said.

Thor watched Harry carefully.

"I do not know if it would be wise to tell," Harry said carefully, directing the sentence more to Death than Thor.

"How I became a messenger is unknown to me," Death muttered angrily. "Tell him or don't tell him. I don't care. You cannot be killed, nor can you be trailed if they were to find out."

"What?" Harry said sharply, making everyone look at him confused.

"You are not a part of the magical community anymore, the Master of Death is a separate being," Death said. Harry got the impression that the being would have rolled their eyes as they spoke. "There would be no sound repercussions for you to face."

"I –"

"Just make a choice," Death snapped, without waiting any longer he was gone.

"Sir," Jarvis said. "There seems to have been a breach. I cannot place it."

"It was for Harry," Thor said, still watching the British man.

"Harry?" Tony asked, he moved forward.

Harry stood, staring to the side, where Death had been. He didn't respond to Tony moving closer and putting his hands onto his shoulders.

"Jarvis, what just happened?"

"There was a momentarily dip in my system Sir," Jarvis said. "Monitoring failed."

"Is everyone alright?" Clint asked.

"Everyone currently in the tower seems to be in perfect health," Jarvis answered.

Harry focused on Tony, who was silly stood in front of him with a worried frown.

"I – I'll tell you everything," he said. "I just can't do it here."

"Why not?" Clint asked.

"I suspect that Harry would rather not have additional people around when he tells Tony," Thor said. "We would do well to respect his wishes."

Clint nodded, still unsure of why Thor trusted the man.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

By the time that Harry and Tony had gotten back to Harry's house, it was already late afternoon.

"Squirt Horizon want to talk to you about Teddy," George shouted once Harry had opened the door.

"What? Why?" Harry asked, a slight panicked tone in his voice.

"He's been causing mischief," George shouted back.

"What did you do?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion, making Tony chuckle nervously. He was unsure of what would happen now.

"Oh, Tony," George said, coming down the stairs. "Glad to see you got him home in one piece. You didn't do too much last night did –"

"Leave him alone," Harry said, seeing Tony shift.

"Dad!" Teddy shouted, running downstairs after George. As Teddy ran down the stairs his hair changed from black to green.

"Harry?" Tony asked, trying to keep his voice calm. "Teddy's hair just changed colour and I'm not aware of any product that can do that."

"Shit," George cursed, staring at Tony in horror.


	21. The Truth

“It’s ok,” Harry said quickly, stopping George for getting his wand. “I’m telling him.”

“You’re what?” George gasped. “You are aware that it is against the law –“

“I’m positive,” Harry said firmly. In truthfulness, Harry still was unsure he was doing the right thing.

“Dad?” Teddy asked, his green hair now pink.

“George, can you take care of Teddy for now?” Harry asked, his voice shaking slightly.

“No!” Teddy protested. “I’m not leaving!”

“Teddy,” Harry said. “It’s going to be ok.”

“Yeah kid,” Tony said. “I might not know what’s going on but it’s ok.”

Teddy shook his head fast.

“You can’t tell him, you told me we weren’t allowed to tell them,” Teddy said.

“I know,” Harry said, kneeling to Teddy’s height. “I need to tell Tony though. It is really important that he knows.”

Teddy nodded finally. He pulled Harry into a tight hug.

“Don’t let him take you away,” he whispered.

“He won’t, I promise,” Harry whispered back, hugging Teddy tighter in response.

“Uncle George?” Teddy asked softly.

“Come on Ted,” George said, holding his hand out.

Teddy bit his lip, looking from Harry to Tony.

“Don’t you dare take my dad away,” Teddy said to Tony, aiming to be threatening, however the tearful eyes broke the threatening image.

“I won’t,” Tony promised, a heavy feeling of anxiety building in his chest. If both Teddy and Harry were acting like this then it must be big.

George led Teddy upstairs, letting Harry know that he was available if needed.

Harry walked into the living room, Tony trailing behind slowly.

“Sit?” Harry offered.

“Should I be nervous?” Tony asked.

“I’m nervous,” Harry said with a smile. “I’m just going to say it… I have magic,” Harry said simply.

“What?”

“I have magic,” Harry repeated. “I am a wizard.”

“There is no such thing,” Tony said.

“Tony, I’m not lying,” Harry said.

“We don’t have magic here, mutants yes, wizards no,” Tony said.

Harry sighed. He called his wand from its holster and waved it.

“Whoa!” Tony gasped as the seat he was on began to move upwards.

Harry waved his wand again, turning the glass on the table into a box. Harry set Tony’s seat down.

“I didn’t lie yesterday,” Harry said, staring at his hands. “I just left a lot out.”

“Perhaps you should start again then?” Tony said, his eyes wide.

“My parents were murdered and I was sent to live with my relatives. They weren’t – nice people,” Harry said.

“On my eleventh birthday I was visited by a man who told me a lot of unbelievable things. One was the truth about how my parents died. He told me about a man who had tried his hardest to murder my family and kill me in the process. He had cast a spell that killing what it touched, he attempted to do the same to me but the spell didn’t work. It rebounded from me and hit him, which is why no one believed his was alive when he came back,” Harry paused.

Tony listened with rapt attention. The details of the story hadn’t changed much, however it was still just as engrossing.

"I went to a magical school, with lots of other children -"

"There is more of you?" Tony asked.

"Whole communities," Harry said. "Typically, magical communities and non-magical communities stay separate."

“I guess you can do a lot with magic,” Tony summarised.

“Yes,” Harry said. “Everyone is worried about another set of witch hunts starting, or experiments I guess.”

“It sounds reasonable,” Tony mused. “People can be greedy.”

“Especially when there is power involved,” Harry added.

“Right, so magic school?” Tony said.

“Yeah, we learnt how to control our magic and other spells for things like defence and daily life. We also made potions,” Harry said lightly.

“Spells and potions,” Tony said, holding back a laugh.

“Yep,” Harry nodded.

“That is so cliché,” Tony said.

“The stories had to come from somewhere,” Harry pointed out.

“Right, ok. Continue,” Tony said.

Harry rolled his eyes, “I was kidnapped during a school tournament in my fourth year and my blood was used to bring the man back to life,” Harry said, his fingers tracing his arm where the knife had cut him. “Blood is a very sacred when it comes to magic. Blood magic is some of the strongest magic possible.”

“Why blood?” Tony asked.

“Blood and magic are entwined. Each person has a difference in their magic as well, a bit like DNA,” Harry explained.

“That’s interesting,” Tony said thoughtfully. “Is magic traceable?”

“To a degree, I know there are spells that detect magic but they aren’t always accurate. It cannot tell you who produced the magic, just where it was,” Harry said, thinking back to his second year.

“So is magic a type of energy? Just a usable one by a select few?” Tony asked.

“I’m not sure about that,” Harry admitted.

“I may have been thinking about it wrong, would you mind having a look at some notes Bruce and I have?” Tony asked. “We were going off the basis of energy but if magic is truly something else then we might need a second opinion.”

“What?” Harry asked.

“Bruce and I have been working on tracing and picking up signals from different realms. Thor’s brother caused a big issue when he visited and SHIELD wanted to make sure it won’t happen without warning again,” Tony said.

“How would I help with that?” Harry asked.

“Loki is magical,” Tony said. “He used a sceptre to brainwash people. It might be similar to your own magic.”

“I don’t know if that is a good idea,” Harry admitted.

“Why not?”

“People without magic shouldn’t know about it. I’m breaking laws as it is,” Harry said.

“I just would like you to look at our notes and see if they sound completely wrong,” Tony said. “It will stay between us.”

Harry bit his lip before nodding.

“Brilliant,” Tony said. “I – I got distracted. Please, keep going. I just had a brain wave and it ran ahead of me.”

“It’s ok,” Harry said, preferring this talk to the last one. Tony’s interruptions and tangents that he led them on helped Harry distance himself from his story.

“The last year… the one I didn’t go back to school for. We searched for the objects that were keeping him alive, one was in the school. One of his followers called him to us and the battle begun,” Harry said. “When he gave me the chance to surrender myself. I went willingly and I saw him cast the killing curse at me. He killed me and I was so happy that it was over,” Harry admitted. “Since I stepped foot into the magical world, I was hailed The-Boy-Who-Lived,” Harry said bitterly, adding quotation marks with his fingers.

“You died?” Tony asked.

“Yes and no,” Harry said. “I’m not entirely sure what happened, I spoke to an old mentor that had previously died and I had a choice. I chose to go back and finish what had been started. I came back, destroyed the evil guy and lived on.”

Tony sat in silence, not knowing what to say. Sure, before he had been awed at the man’s courage and strength, but now? Now, Tony could not believe that having the choice to leave everything that was bad behind, Harry still chose to go back and help those around him.

If that wasn’t brave, Tony didn’t know what else was.

“Which leads me to everything that has happened since I met you,” Harry said, fighting the urge to leave and ignore Tony for the rest of his life. “I… don’t even know where to start.”

Tony looked to Harry, who was sat watching his hands fiddle with a pen. He reached out and took one of Harry’s hands, silently offering the man some support.

“I was being followed, I didn’t know who it was but I saw them everywhere,” Harry said. “I thought it was someone from England.”

Tony squeezed Harry’s hand gently. Harry swallowed, fighting against the lump that had formed in his throat.

“It was Death. Death was stalking me and watching everything I did, he even watched me as I grew up,” Harry said, his hands beginning to shake. “He showed me his memories of me growing up, everything – all the times I nearly died. He helped me. He was the one you noticed, he showed himself to me and he shouldn’t have done.”

Tony opened his mouth, wanting desperately to say something. No sound came out. Instead, he just took Harry’s other hand and held both of them tightly.

“I don’t know why he chose me,” Harry whispered.

“Harry,” Tony said softly, shocked by how rough his voice sounded.

“I know it’s a lot,” Harry said, pulling his hands from Tony’s hold. “I just – I get it if you want to leave now.”

“What?” Tony asked before the realisation of Harry’s words hit him. “I’m not leaving,” Tony said firmly, pulling Harry towards him. “Jesus Harry, I’m not going to leave just because you have magic.”

“I lied –“

“Did I ever ask you if you had magic?” Tony interrupted. “Exactly!” he said feeling Harry shake his head. “You didn’t lie about anything that was important at the time.”

Harry nodded against Tony, enjoying the feeling of Tony being there.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

George slowly made his way downstairs, having occupied Teddy. He gently opened the door.

“Everything ok?” he asked.

Tony nodded, look over to George.

“He’s asleep,” he said.

“Harry told you everything then?” George asked.

“Most of it,” Tony said. “I can’t expect that he told me everything.”

“Clever,” George commented.

“Are you –“

“A wizard? Yes,” George said.

“Teddy?” Tony asked, looking upwards briefly.

“Harry would be better answering that,” George said honestly. “Teddy can be a tender subject.”

“Was –” Tony paused, looking at Harry momentarily. “Was he really in as much danger as he said?”

“Knowing Harry, probably more than he said. I don’t think a year went by in school that he wasn’t in danger of something,” George commented. “That is without mentioning his relatives,” he added darkly.

“He mentioned that they weren’t the nicest of people,” Tony commented.

“That’s a big understatement,” George said, his dark tone still there.

Tony didn’t dare ask any more, not wanting to betray Harry’s trust in him. Tony also knew that having a group of people aware of unpleasant living situations was not a good thing in the mind of the person having lived in it.

George sighed, “I’ll take him upstairs.”

“I don’t mind –”

“Magic remember,” George said. He got his wand and cast the charm to make Harry float. “You coming?” he asked Tony on the way out.

“You don’t mind?” Tony asked.

“Harry trusts you enough to tell you, I think I should be able to trust you enough around him sleeping,” George commented dryly.


	22. Bored Equals Bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is late again. It's been a long day of packing and I wasn't going to upload this. I started working on it and Voilà, here it is.

"What you reading?"

Tony looked up, startled. He had followed George, who had dumped Harry on the bed before leaving the two. Tony, unsure of what else to do, looked around the room for a while before settling on a book he had seen.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard," Tony said, holding the book up so Harry could see the cover.

"What story you on?" Harry asked.

"The Fountain of Fair Fortune. These are strange stories," Tony commented.

"They are fairy tales," Harry said. "Magical children grow up with them instead of the Grimm stories."

"Does Teddy enjoy these?"

"He likes both magical and non-magical stories," Harry said. "He's rather well balanced between the two worlds."

"Is he magical?" Tony asked, unable to help himself.

"He is," Harry said.

"Is that how his hair changed colour?" Tony asked.

"In a sense, Teddy is a metamorphosis. They have the ability to change their appearance at will. Around most people he wears suppression objects," Harry explained.

"He seemed upset about me," Tony mused.

"Teddy has spent a lot of time away from the magical world," Harry said carefully. "He is used to hiding who he is and trying to make sure people don't find out. I guess he panicked when he saw you," Harry knew it wasn't the full truth but that was all that he was going to give to Tony right now.

"You should finish the story," Harry said, slowly getting up. "I'm going to see what the other two are up to."

Harry left Tony in his room.

He came across George and Teddy, bot sat on the floor in the living room, cross legged and holding their hands in front of them.

"Imagine it," George said, watching Teddy intensely,

"I can't!" the boy cried.

"Close your eyes," George instructed.

Teddy opened his mouth in protest but a stern look from George had him complying.

"Think about something that makes you feel happy," George said. "It can be a place, or a person."

Harry watched as the small worry lines in Teddy's face began to disappear.

"Brilliant," George said, "Keep your eyes closed and imagine what we talked about."

Teddy nodded, his face scrunching in concentration.

"Tell me what you can see," George said.

"My book," Teddy said.

"Is that all?" George asked, Teddy shook his head. "What else?"

"Dad… and Mr. Flump," Teddy said with a slight smile.

"It's been a while since I've seen Mr. Flump," George said. "Remind me what he looks like."

"You know what he looks like!" Teddy said with a giggle as he opened his eyes to look at George.

"It's been  _so_  long," George said. "I forgot. Close your eyes and tell me about him."

"Mr. Flump is an elephant, he's green and he has a pattern on his back… like a… like a…" Teddy frowned. "I can't remember the name."

"Hmm, I know," George said. He put a small piece of paper on Teddy's palm and closed his hand around it. "You remember everything they told you about at school about magic?" George asked. "I want you to try something for me, alright?"

Teddy nodded.

"Keep thinking about that pattern, can you feel the paper in your hand?"

Teddy nodded again.

"Try to put the pattern on the paper," George said. "Magic does what you want it to do," George reminded the child.

Harry watched as the two sat in silence now, George's hand on top of Teddy's, keeping the child's closed.

It was a minute or two before Teddy opened his eyes, staring at George.

"I felt it!" he gasped.

George moved his hand away from Teddy's and waited with a smile on his face.

"Look!" Teddy cried, opening his hand. "I did it! I did it!"

"That's great," George said brightly.

"That's brilliant," Harry said from the doorway.

"Dad!" Teddy cried, jumping up from the floor. "Look! I made the pattern! I did it!"

"Let's look," Harry said, he took the small piece of paper from Teddy and smiled at the zig-zag pattern. "That is amazing."

Tony made his way downstairs to find a very talkative group.

"I was considering sending a search party for you," Harry teased.

"I finished the book," Tony shrugged sheepishly.

"All the stories?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, they were interesting," Tony said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The next day came quickly, Tony had stayed for dinner before leaving to do some super important work, as he had said to Teddy.

It was the early morning when Harry was reminded that Liz wanted to talk to him about Teddy.

"Mr. Potter," Liz said, leading him to her office.

"It's Harry," he reminded gently. He had been glad that she had allowed him to have the meeting whilst Teddy could entertain himself in the play area.

"Harry," Liz corrected herself. "I'm not sure what your friend told you but we have seen a few worrying things from Teddy."

"George mentioned some misbehaviour had happened," Harry said.

"Right," Liz smiled. "There was some, although that is only a small part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Teddy is an undeniably bright student. He is progressing well through the activities we have here, however, we are worried he is not challenged."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I understand that he has been raised in the muggle world," Liz said.

"Mainly," Harry agreed. "I have made sure to include magical aspects as well but the muggle world was a lot friendlier."

"That is the problem," Liz said. "Most of the children coming here do not have such extensive knowledge. Teddy has struggled to bond with some of the children in his groups due to this."

"Ok, there isn't much we can do about that," Harry pointed out. He knew as well as anyone else, that you couldn't force children to get along.

"I agree, I just wanted to keep you informed. There is also the incident with him being bored within activities, it has led to some… interesting outcomes," Liz said.

"Should I be concerned?" Harry asked.

"Not at all," Liz said gently, a smile on her face. "Teddy has just been dabbling into his magical side. We have noticed his metamorphmagus abilities shining whilst he is here. He is constantly changing himself, mainly sticking to his hair colour but we have noticed his eyes and his facial features changing. He hasn't been able to hold the changes for very long but they are developing."

"I'm not sure that's a good thing," Harry said with a smile. "It's hard enough to explain the different hair every day."

"It does show that he is comfortable here," Liz said.

"Which is good, it was something I was worried about," Harry said.

"As well as his metamorphmagus abilities, he has managed to turn other children different colours –"

Harry bit his lip, trying not to laugh.

"We expect these things, however, not at such a young age," Liz chastised lightly.

"I'm not sure where he got it," Harry said, his lips still twitching slightly.

"We'll continue to keep an eye on Teddy and if you want, we could discuss a way to stop his boredom with certain topics in the future," Liz offered.

"That would be great," Harry agreed.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Harry told me everything," Tony said. He had finally gotten Thor alone. "How did you know?"

"His tale reached Asgard soon after Voldemorts defeat –"

"Voldemort," Tony interrupted. "That was the guy trying to kill him?" he guessed.

"Indeed," Thor said solemnly. "He was a being that all despised, even Loki. A man should not aim to defeat Death in such ways."

"Death is a real person then?" Tony asked, an uneasy feeling overcoming him.

"Aye, Death resides in each realm. It is unheard of one witnessing Death before they pass," Thor said. "Harry is indeed an unusual being."

"Why would Death show himself to Harry?" Tony asked, not understanding it.

"I can only share what I know," Thor said. "Death is mysterious, more so than anything else. He alone can destroy an entire race for fun. An out of control Death would equal a destroyed realm," Thor said solemnly. "Tales of bored and rampant Deaths were told to me as a child. There was talk of a being that could control Death and act as a ruler for those that fell under his rein. The stories are vague but they hinted at a single person being chosen and tried to prove their worth over him."

"What does this have to do with – wait, are you suggesting that Harry is about to control Death?" Tony asked incredulously.

"I am unsure," Thor admitted. "The tales I know are just tales. While they hold truth, they also hold lies."

Tony stayed silent. Harry had indeed told him that he had died and chose to return from the dead. Would it be completely impossible for him to rule over Death? It was such a strange thought.

"Harry is not a threat," Thor said, misreading Tony's silence.

"I never thought he was," Tony admitted. "He doesn't have an evil bone in his body."


	23. Teddy's Big Step

“Tony!” Teddy moaned. “You’re doing it wrong! It needs to be like this!”

Teddy took the pencil from Tony and showed him what to do on the paper.

“I don’t see any difference,” Tony sniffed.

“You need to stay in the lines!” Teddy said, followed by a giggle.

“Rules are meant to be broken,” Tony protested. “I’m being an artist!” Tony puffed his chest up, smiling wider when he heard Harry’s laugh from the other room.

“You shouldn’t break rules!” Teddy said sternly, his tone mimicking one Tony had heard on Harry.

“And why not?” Tony asked, in a soft teasing manner.

“It’s bad,” Teddy said seriously. “It means you have to have time-out,” he added with a scrunched frown.

“Oh! Of course,” Tony said dramatically. “The dreaded time-out. We must do everything we can to avoid that.”

Teddy giggled, giving Tony he pencil back.

Harry rolled his eyes in the kitchen.

It had been a couple of days since Tony had learnt about Harry’s magic. Tony had been accepting, which Harry greatly appreciated. He had also taken the news in his stride, not questioning too much right away.

Tony’s questions were slipped into conversations with ease, mainly when he had spent time with Harry whilst Teddy was at school. Tony’s questions had always been concerning Harry, Teddy was never brought into the questions. Tony had asked Harry about his school and how the magical world worked in terms of policing what happened and enforcing certain bans, such as underage magic and telling non-magical folk about the existence of magic.

Harry had enthusiastically answered Tony’s questions, even going as far to explain the theories behind several of the charms around laws. Something which Hermione had found fascinating after their schooling was completed.

Harry had been anticipating a letter from the Ministry, either British or American, nothing had come. Harry had been slightly tempted to write to them himself just to let them know he told a muggle, however, his common sense overwrote that rather quickly. Perhaps, Tony knowing about magic through Thor’s brother voided the law, after all, Tony did have knowledge of magic before Harry told him.

“You busy?” Tony asked, poking his head through the door.

“Not overly,” Harry said, stirring the contents of the pan.

“Ted, he’s not busy,” Tony called behind him in a slightly louder voice.

Teddy made his way over to Harry slowly, he was playing with the bracelet on his wrist that he had insisted on wearing since Tony saw his hair change.

“Dad?” Teddy asked quietly.

Tony met Harry’s eyes before making his way out of the room to give the two of them some privacy.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“Why did we tell Tony about us?”

Harry paused slightly, he quickly cast a spell on the food that was cooking before giving Teddy his full attention.

“Do you think I shouldn’t have told Tony?” Harry asked.

Teddy shrugged, looking at his feet.

“Do you like Tony?” Harry tried.

“He plays with me,” Teddy said.

“He does,” Harry smiled.

“He’s nice too.”

“He is,” Harry agreed.

“You did say we couldn’t tell,” Teddy said, growing frustrated.

Harry picked Teddy up and sat him on the table.

“Ok, I told Tony because I thought he was a good person. I trust Tony with our secret and he had a friend who knew about us,” Harry explained. “I took a big risk telling Tony,” he admitted. “One that I thought a lot about. I do like Tony though. He’s a good person.”

“Did you tell him about me?” Teddy asked, playing with his bracelet again.

“I told him a little bit,” Harry said. “What information about you are you worried about?”

“He saw me change,” Teddy said softly.

“He did, I told him about you being a metamorphous,” Harry said.

Teddy nodded, thinking over the words.

“Can I – does that –” Teddy cut himself off.

“You can ask me anything,” Harry reminded the child.

“Do I have to wear my bracelet?” Teddy asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Harry smiled sadly, realising that this was the first time that Teddy had asked not to wear the bracelet. It was a huge step for him.

“If you want to take if off you can,” Harry said. “I’m not going to stop you.”

“What if Tony gets scared?” Teddy asked timidly.

“We could ask him?” Harry suggested.

“He won’t leave?” Teddy asked.

“If we ask him he won’t,” Harry promised, knowing that Tony would have left a long time ago if that were the case.

Teddy nodded, taking Harry’s hand once he was put back on the floor.

“Tony?” Harry called, leading the way into the living room. Harry spied the sheets of paper on the table that showed a range of pictures from robots to houses.

“Everything alright?” Tony asked, putting the book he had been reading down.

“Teddy wanted to know if he could ask you something,” Harry said, sitting on the couch.

“Of course,” Tony said.

Teddy looked between Tony and Harry, he shook his head.

“You want me to ask him?” Harry asked the child. “Ok then,” he said, seeing Teddy nod. “Teddy wanted to know how much you knew about him because he wanted to take his bracelet off.”

Tony gave Harry a confused look.

“The bracelet suppresses his metamorphosis abilities,” Harry explained.

“Oh,” Tony said. “If you want to take it off you can,” he said to Teddy, getting the impression that it was a big deal.

“You won’t be scared?” Teddy asked quietly, not meeting Tony’s eyes.

“I might get a little startled but I won’t be scared,” Tony said.

“How do you know?” Teddy asked.

“It might have something to do with the fact you turned your hair green and pink,” Tony teased lightly. Seeing Teddy about to protest he added, “Only bad people scare me.”

Teddy snapped his mouth shut, thinking about Tony’s words.

“I’m not bad,” he said finally.

“Then you won’t scare me,” Tony pointed out.

“Ok,” Teddy said. He looked at Harry, who nodded, before taking his bracelet off.

“That is cool,” Tony said as Teddy’s hair changed to red.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“Your kid is so well behaved,” Tony said, sitting back on the couch.

“He can be when he wants something,” Harry said. Harry had a warm feeling in his chest, Teddy had asked for Tony to read him a story before bed, another first for the child. Typically, Harry was the one to put Teddy to bed as he struggled to relax enough to sleep without Harry around.

“It’s pretty cool that he can change his appearance like that,” Tony said, he had encouraged Teddy to show him how much he could do with his abilities. Delighted, both Harry and Tony watched as Teddy changed his facial features, hair colour and eye colour.

“It should develop more,” Harry said. “His mother could change her whole body.”

“I can see that being a bit strange for a child though,” Tony said.

“I guess,” Harry said.

“Where is George?” Tony asked, realising that, for the first time, that he had not seen George around the house.

“He went back to England for a bit,” Harry explained. “He wanted to sort something out with his shop and visit his family.”

“Is he coming back?”

“I think so. Being away from them is good for him,” Harry said. “He just needs to socialise more.”

“I was thinking, all of you come over to the tower and meet Thor and maybe Bruce? We could watch a movie and play some child friendly games,” Tony suggested. “It would give George some chance to meet more people and it would give Thor the chance to meet Teddy. Bruce could do with some socialising as well.”

“It sounds good,” Harry said. “Do you have to head back soon?” he asked, aware of the fact that the previous days Tony had been at Harry’s house, he had had to leave soon after Teddy went to bed, if not being, due to Avenger commitments and work.

“They should manage without me for a night,” Tony said.

“Good,” Harry said. “I’ve missed having you around.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “I have been here a lot.”

“I’ve missed talking to you without Teddy being present –”

“I don’t believe that,” Tony teased. “I’ve been here when he’s been at school.”

Harry just rolled his eyes and lent again Tony’s side.

“I see,” Tony said, still in his teasing tone. “You missed _me_ ,” he emphasised.

“Shut up,” Harry said, a pink tint appearing on his cheeks.

“I like it when you tell me what to do.”

Harry groaned at Tony’s tone.

“You are a mean man,” he said.

“What?” Tony questioned innocently.

“I –” Harry paused.

“What?” Tony asked, his voice returning to normal.

“Stay tonight?” Harry asked, his chest welling with an emotion he could not place.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I think,” Harry said.

“We don’t have to do –”

“Tony,” Harry said. “I have just asked you to stay the night, I don’t need the talk you would give to a teenager. I _know_ nothing _has_ to happen.”

“I just wanted to make sure you knew,” Tony said.

Harry rolled his eyes, he pushed himself up and kissed Tony.

“Be quiet,” he said. "I'm asking you to spend the night with me," Harry said before kissing Tony once again, this time not ending the kiss until Tony responded with enthusiasm.

“You sure?” Tony asked, his voice slightly breathless.

“Yes,” Harry nodded, leading Tony up to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, hi everyone. I know, 23 days of a chapter a day. It’s been amazing and I cannot believe I did so much. However, I do think I will have to slow down now. These past few chapters have been getting more difficult to write and it’s become something more negative than positive. I have found myself the past few days just staring at my computer thinking I’ve wasted three weeks.  
> In reality I don’t think this has been a waste, it’s been incredible but I am exhausted and I need a bit of a break. I have pretty much lived and breathed this story since I started it. It is a fact I love, but it’s also one which makes me question my sanity. Writing is something I have always loved to do, even when I hate what I write because it sounds bad to me.  
> Personally, I think everyone who had read this story has made it incredible. It has been so well received that it does blow my mind. I cannot thank you enough, you have inspired me to write as much as I have done. It is… incredible, and I know I’ve said this a lot but jeez, it really is. You all have said such nice things and I get stupidly happy seeing the numbers go up and reading the comments you leave. Even seeing the people following the story and liking it.  
> I just need some me time. Plus university is going to be starting soon and I don’t need an added stress of “Holy crap, I need to get another chapter up today because people really want this” because I know once university starts I will have more than enough stress to handle.  
> So, I will be reducing how many chapters come out. They will not be daily any more, or the likelihood of them being daily is very unlikely. Tomorrow I will be packing and then the day after I have a four hour drive to my new house for the year, so I can guarantee that a chapter won’t be posted until after I get to the new house. Depending on how I get on tomorrow, I may have one to be posted after I settle in. If not, it might be a couple of days after I move.  
> I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY! I just needed to say that. I would love to keep this pace up but it is a lot. I will aim to get two chapters a week, which will give me time to do some reading for university, plus write and just have some time to myself.  
> Now, I have rambled for also 450 words, so I shall leave this here. I will be back with another chapter soon. Stay incredible!


	24. Thor and George

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! My short break lasted longer than I expected. The chapters will also probably be once a week, which is a shame but things are hectic here.  
> I am all settled in now though. I just have a lot of reading to do for my course and I need to readjust to being alone again (well, as alone as you can be with 5 other people living with you).  
> I want to just thank you all for the nice words as well, it was lovely and I actually found myself thinking “I have such awesome people reading this story”. So thank you all.

“You seem awfully cheerful,” George said once he had returned a few days later.

“Tony came round,” Teddy said, a wide smile on his face. The American had left no longer than an hour ago.

“Really?” George asked. “Where is he now?”

“He had to go,” Teddy frowned.

“Really?” George repeated, sending a curious look to Harry who was stubbornly avoiding George’s eyes.

“He had work to do,” Harry said.

“At nine in the morning?” George asked, a smirk on his face.

“Daddy had a sleepover!” Teddy said.

Harry shot Teddy a surprised look, obviously not considering that the young child would give the story up just like that.

“A sleepover?” George asked, trying not to laugh. “Where did Tony sleep? I hope it wasn’t my room,” he teased.

“He slept with daddy,” Teddy said innocently.

Harry spluttered as George laughed merrily.

“It isn’t what it sounds –”

“I am sure it isn’t,” George said, laughing again at the red tinge on Harry’s cheeks. “I just hope you were responsible.”

“George!” Harry complained.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“Greetings young mage!” Thor’s booming voice called as soon as the elevator opened.

George followed Harry out of the elevator nervously, holding onto Teddy’s hand. He wasn’t sure why he had agreed to go with Harry, part of him just wanted to leave now and not return.

“Thor,” Harry said warmly. “Allow me to introduce my friend and my son. George and Teddy,” Harry said, gesturing to each of them in turn.

“It is a pleasure,” Thor said honestly. “I have not encountered many mages willing to spare time with me on Midgard.”

George fidgeted, feeling a bit out of the loop. Harry had given him a quick rundown on what to expect from the man in front of him but he still felt largely uninformed.

“Are you magical too?” Teddy asked softly, staring at the man with awe.

“No little one,” Thor laughed.

“Thor does have some magic though,” Harry pointed out.

“Aye, Mjölnir is my source of magic,” Thor agreed.

“What’s Mj-”

“Mjölnir is my hammer, perhaps I will show you later,” Thor said to Teddy with a smile.

“That would be nice,” Harry said.

Thor shot a concerned look over to George, also causing Harry’s attention to fall on his friend.

“Thor, do you want to show Teddy around?” Harry suggested.

“I would enjoy that greatly,” Thor said.

Teddy looked to Harry for a brief second before bolting over to Thor and taking his hand.

“You talk funny,” Teddy said as Thor began to lead him to another room.

“Aye, I come from a different place –”

“Like Emily, she’s in my class and she’s from Australia, she talks funny too but it’s a different funny to you,” Teddy’s voice trailed off the further away they got.

“You alright?” Harry asked.

“I think I should go,” George said.

“You can’t keep running away from people,” Harry pointed out.

“I wasn’t the one to make friends,” George said. “That was all Fred!”

“Isolating yourself won’t help,” Harry said softly.

“I don’t know what else to do,” George admitted.

“Stay for the film,” Harry suggested. “If it is really that bad you can leave, going now would just be running away.”

“I ran away from home remember,” George pointed out.

“So did I,” Harry shrugged. “I used Teddy as an excuse but I needed to leave, which is why I didn’t say anything about you leaving. But you cannot just pretend the world isn’t continuing though. It does nothing to help.”

“Fine,” George sighed. “I’ll stay for the film.”

“Thank you,” Harry said. “Let’s go catch up.”

Harry and George found Thor and Teddy in the kitchen, Teddy was sat on the counter top whilst Thor was discussing the snacks for tonight.

“What are pop tarts?” Teddy asked, a frown clear on his face.

“They are a worthy snack,” Thor said seriously. “You may try one if you wish.”

“How much sugar is in them?” Harry interjected with a smile.

“I am unsure,” Thor said honestly.

“Please dad!” Teddy begged.

“I suppose trying one wouldn’t be so bad,” Harry relented, aware that it was still early in the day and the sugar would have run its course before the night fell.

“I thought I heard voices,” Tony said, stepping into the kitchen.

“Tony!” Teddy cried happily.

“Hello buddy,” Tony nodded. “George, it’s good to see you again.”

Harry groaned internally at George’s mischievous smile.

“It’s good to see you as well, it’s a shame I missed the sleepover.”

“You just had to,” Harry muttered under his breath.

“Unfortunately I like Harry too much to share,” Tony winked.

Tuning out Thor and Teddy’s excited chatter as the pop tarts heated up, Harry made his way over to Tony.

“Did you get the work done?” he asked.

“In a fashion. It was a proposal that was given to me,” Tony said.

“Anything good?” Harry asked, watching Thor take the pop tart, what look rather sickly and chocolatey, out of the toaster.

“There has been talk about a movie being made about me,” Tony said lightly, watching Harry for a reaction.

George laughed. “If your life is anywhere near as interesting as Harry’s a movie would be a great idea.”

“Don’t start this again,” Harry said sharply to George.

“What?” Tony asked, puzzled.

“The Ministry of Magic is still waiting for a reply Harry dear,” George said sweetly.

Harry narrowed his eyes at George, who grinned even more.

Thor had gathered Teddy and suggested they move to the dining area since the pop tarts were still hot.

Tony watched in amusement as George’s amusement vanished with a wave of Harry’s hand.

“What did you do?” Tony asked.

“Stinging hex,” George said with a grimace. “All because Harry hates his fame.”

“Why’d you hex him?” Tony asked curiously as George left the room, grumbling about Harry being a danger to fun.

“He finds it funny that the Ministry approached me and asked for my approval for them to produce books about my life,” Harry said. “They wanted to sell them world-wide, to non-magical people as well.”

“Would that have been so bad?” Tony asked.

“My life isn’t something that is fun. There is a lot of pain and a lot of very recent history for the British wizards –“

“For non-magical people,” Tony pointed out. “It would introduce the concept of magic to them and it would easy any prejudices that they hold, which would make it easier for the Muggleborns,” Tony pointed out, recalling the information he had gotten from books around Harry’s house.

“It isn’t that easy,” Harry said. “It might go towards building a common ground but it would have to be accepted by everyone first. The Ministry wouldn’t settle on just muggles having it, it was only on my friends insistence that they agreed to that,” Harry said, recalling the heated debates that him and Hermione had had with the Ministry officials.

“There is also the fact that some things that happened are still controversial,” Harry said. “There were people that were believed to be good that were spies and vice versa. To give them all the information now would just stop any progress made from the end of the war.”

“You’ve given it thought,” Tony pointed out.

“I wrote the books,” Harry said. “It started out as an idea that was given to me when we were trying to find ways to kill Voldemort. “If we get out of this, we should let everyone know what really happened”,” Harry said, remembering Hermione’s words. “Once I agreed to take Teddy I had a lot of time, so I wrote everything. I left a lot of things out, deeming them unimportant or useless knowledge now…” Harry trailed off. “I finished them after the Ministry approached me, I told them I would consider it.”

“You never got back to them,” Tony pointed out.

“No. I can’t. It’s too soon after the war,” Harry said firmly. “People aren’t ready –”

“Surely giving them the truth now would be better than waiting,” Tony suggested.

Harry sighed, “It would mean that everyone would know. I don’t think I am ready for that,” Harry admitted.

Tony understood. When he was approached about the film he was hesitant for that expect reason. Having people know was a big thing to allow, letting everyone that wants to, know the secrets that you had kept was such a harder aspect to give up than having them know half of the story.

“I’ll give in eventually,” Harry said. “I just don’t know when.”

“Whenever you think it’s the right time,” Tony pointed out. “It would be wrong to do it at any other time.”

“Did you go for the proposal?” Harry asked.

“I told them I would think it over,” Tony admitted. “I’m tempted to say no.”

“But you’re tempted to say yes as well,” Harry added.

“Everyone expects me to agree,” Tony said. “It might be good for publicity for the Avengers, there are still a few people that really don’t like us.”

Harry didn’t say anything.

“If I go for it I want the shrapnel out of my chest. I can see a lot of people using that against me,” Tony admitted.

“Makes sense,” Harry said.

“It would be a big procedure,” Tony pointed out. “I don’t really like the thought of people getting so close to my heart.”

“I – if you wanted I could ask a few friends of mine. I know so of them went into a medical career,” Harry suggested. “There might be a way to do it without opening you up.”

“I’m open to other suggestions,” Tony said honestly.

“I’ll ask,” Harry said.

“This is amazing!” Teddy’s voice shouted.

“Should I?” Tony asked.

“Thor mentioned pop tarts,” Harry said, hoping that summed everything up.

“Right,” Tony sniggered.

“I think I should go collect my child before tries to have more,” Harry said with a shake of his head.

“He’ll be fine. Most of the stuff around here is pretty much unbreakable and he is only a kid,” Tony pointed out.

“Magic dear,” Harry said, patting Tony’s arm before he left.

“Dad! Can we get some pop tarts?” Teddy asked, bouncing slightly on his heels.

“Child!” Thor gasped in shock as Teddy’s hair began to change to a vibrant yellow.

“Teddy,” Harry said slowly. “Did you take your bracelet off?”

Teddy shook his head fast, holding his arm out.

“George?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know. It shouldn’t have worn off this quickly,” George said.

“What -?” Tony started to ask.

“The bracelet that keeps his metamorphosis abilities under wraps seems to have worn off,” Harry said, a frown on his face.

“He’s alright here,” Tony said. “We all know about magic.”

“It’s more the trip home and to school that is the problem,” Harry pointed out. “I guess we could stick to magical means until we figure it out.”

“It does mean we will need to up the control sessions,” George said. “Not to mention the emotional stability.”

“I fear that I am lost,” Thor admitted.

“Teddy has an ability to change how he looks,” Harry said. “He is still a little young to control it, but he has gotten a lot better,” Harry pointed out, ruffling Teddy’s hair. “At the moment it seems the changes are linked to his emotions, so he needs to focus on his control to stop the changes when around non-magical people.”

“He sounds like Dr. Banner,” Thor said.

Tony’s eyes lit up. “That’s a thought,” he muttered to himself.


	25. Big Hero 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just be warned, there will be spoilers for Big Hero 6 in this chapter. I couldn’t help myself. If you haven’t watched it and plan to then be warned, it is most of this chapter, feel free to skip it though, it was just them watching a film and bonding slightly because of it.  
> If you haven't watched Big Hero 6, I would recommend it.  
> I did re-watch the film whilst I wrote this, so now I’m going to go be emotional because of it. Enjoy!

“Would you argue too much if I wanted to bring Bruce into the loop?” Tony asked, having dragged Harry back out of the room they had recently entered.

“Tony, non-magical people shouldn’t know about magic,” Harry pointed out.

“I know,” Tony said. “I had an idea though. Just hear me out,” Tony said, stopping Harry’s interruption.

“Ok,” Harry sighed.

“So you mentioned Teddy has to control his emotions to a degree,” seeing Harry nod, Tony continued. “Bruce, as you know, turns into a green raging machine when he gets angry among other things. They might be able to help each other.”

“Tony –“

“Bruce is struggling, even though he won’t admit it. He probably knows so calming techniques you don’t and vice versa,” Tony pointed out.

“You have a point,” Harry agreed. “I can’t just tell everyone about magic though.”

“It wouldn’t be outlandish,” Tony said. “Bruce and I have been trying to work to find a type of magic remember, plus he turns green and huge.”

Harry sighed.

“It would benefit both of them. Bruce isn’t – he doesn’t know how to let his guard down. If he keeps bottling everything up –“

“It’ll end up worse,” Harry said, finishing Tony’s sentence. He sighed again. “I won’t out Teddy like that,” he said finally. “It isn’t fair and we don’t know how Bruce would react.”

“Just think about it,” Tony asked.

“I will,” Harry said with a nod.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“You remind me of my brother,” Thor said fondly. “Much like you, he enjoyed his tricks.”

“Uncle George does lots of fun things!” Teddy said happily, sitting on George’s lap. “He’s been helping me with my magic as well.”

“Really?” Thor said, a warm smile on his face when he looked at Teddy. “Would you care to show me what he has shown you?”

“Can I?” Teddy asked, looking up at George.

“I don’t see why not,” the man shrugged.

Teddy pushed himself out of George’s lap and moved closer to Thor.

“Hold your hands out,” he instructed, taking Thor’s hands in his and positioning them as he was used to. He moved Thor’s hands so his palms were facing upwards.

“Ok,” Teddy said softly, he moved his hands so they were above Thor’s. Their palms facing one another’s with a gap of a few inches between them. Teddy closed his eyes and his face tensed with concentration.

“Relax,” George said.

Teddy nodded, to show that he had heard George and made an effort to relax his face.

Thor gave George a confused look before he gasped. He could feel raw power in his hands, looking to where both his and Teddy’s hands were he was amazed to see a ball of light hovering between each set of hands.

Teddy opened his eyes with a grin.

“I did it!”

“All on your own,” George added.

“That is amazing,” Thor said truthfully. He had seen Loki do similar displays as he learnt control over his magic, the feel of the two were vastly different. Loki’s magic was familiar, whereas Teddy’s magic was almost chaotic. It was one thing to sense the power in Midgardian mages but to feel it in such a way was truly breath-taking.

“That’s pretty cool,” Tony said, having entered the room when Teddy began to show Thor what he could do.

Teddy’s eyes darted to Harry, who stood next to Tony. The balls of light flickered before disappearing, leaving Thor with a small sense of loss.

“Dad! Did you see that?” Teddy said happily.

“I did,” Harry said, trying to hold back his smile. “I also heard George say it was ok,” he added. “I haven’t seen you try that before.”

“It’s something dad used to do,” George said. “It’s easier to do with another person acting as a stabilising body, plus it can help the magic focus.”

“That was all Teddy,” Thor said firmly, not wanting either man to think that he had interfered. “I had no knowledge of what was about to occur.”

“We know Thor,” Harry said softly, sending the Asgardian a smile. “Teddy is just full of surprises today.”

“What are we waiting for?” Tony asked the now silent room. “Let’s go watch the film!”

“What are we gonna watch?” Teddy asked, his eyes wide.

“Big Hero 6,” Tony said proudly, aware that the film had only recently come out.

“I haven’t seen that,” Teddy frowned. “What’s it about?”

“Why don’t we watch it and then we’ll know,” Harry said, stopping Tony from answering.

“’Kay,” Teddy agreed.

“On we go,” Tony said with a smile.

The film had been one that Jarvis had recommended when Tony was growing more frustrated with his limited knowledge into children’s films.

Tony led the group into the theatre and instructed Jarvis to start it. The lights dimmed and the screen came to life.

“Wow,” Teddy said when the film began with the robots fighting. He watched with rapt attention, gasping and cheering in the suitable places. Teddy had abandoned his seat to move closer to the screen.

“Pretty good hussle there,” Tony said quietly, a smile on his face as Hiro battled the second time with his robot.

“I want one! Can I have one dad?” Teddy asked, not taking his eyes of the screen.

“Come sit back down,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes. Reluctantly, Teddy backed up to the chair, sitting back down.

“That brother is badass,” George said with a snort as the two brothers interacted before being put in jail.

All the adults snickered when the boys Aunt appeared and began to rant to the children.

“Whoa!” Teddy gasped as the lab was introduced. He continued repeating that gasped word as the different people were introduced with their research.

“It is pretty cool,” Tony said, leaning closer to the screen.

Harry watched the two fondly, sparing a glance to George, seeing that he was just as engrossed in the film as the other two. He had looked just in time to see George grimace and laugh at Fred’s introduction.

“That man is amusing,” Thor declared.

“I could see that becoming annoying really soon,” Tony said when Baymax was introduced.

The adults all laughed when Hiro concluded that he was an idiot because he couldn’t think of an idea.

The group fell silent as the film continued.

Tony laughed when Fred explained how he recycled his underwear, whilst the rest of the adults looked slightly disgusted.

“That is so cool!” Teddy and Tony both gasped as Hiro showed off his mind controlled microbots.

“Indeed, such technology would be limitless,” Thor agreed.

“Why is it on fire?” Teddy asked, looking back towards Harry with worry.

“No,” the adults gasped as Teddy looked back between them and the film.

“What happened?” he asked. “Why did it explode? Is he -”

“He’s gone,” Harry said, he shot George a worried look as the funeral was shown.

“Poor kid,” Tony said softly.

“The child needs to eat,” Thor said, his voice quiet and sullen.

“He’s just lost someone,” Harry pointed out. “It’s easy to get caught in that pain.”

Teddy moved from his seat and climbed onto Harry’s lap, feeling slightly better to feel Harry’s arms move around him and hold him closer.

“Baymax!” Teddy said happily as the robot inflated.

Tony and George both chuckled as items repeated hit Hiro and Baymax repeated his questions when each item hit.

Tony laughed loudly as Baymax escaped and began to follow the micro-bot.

Teddy giggled loudly when Baymax got stuck in the window.

“Someone stole the microbots,” Thor said, a frown on his face at the deed.

“The fire was probably a distraction,” George said.

“I guess having a marshmallow robot is a good thing at times,” Tony said as Baymax caught Hiro.

“They won’t believe -” George said as Hiro told the officer. his speech fell into a snort as Baymax began to deflate and cover the holes with tape.

Harry laughed as Baymax exclaimed ‘We jumped out a window!’.

Everyone laughed at the scene that followed, where Hiro was trying to hide the low battery Baymax from his Aunt.

The laughter fell short when Baymax mentioned Hiro’s brother.

“Huh,” Tony said as he watched Hiro create armour for Baymax.

George snorted at Baymax’s fist bump. “I am so doing that from not on,” he said to himself, making Harry roll his eyes.

“He could have gotten a suit that didn’t squeak,” Tony said.

“He lost it,” Teddy frowned as Hiro’s last microbot escaped.

“This is the part where you run away,” Thor said in a tone similar to Shrek as Baymax was thrown to the top of the car.

Tony snorted as they stopped at the red light.

“That guy is not one you want on your team in a fight,” George said as Wasabi shouted out of the window to the guy that was chasing them.

“Go-Go is much better,” Tony said, agreeing with George.

“That’s not good,” Harry said as the car fell into the water.

“Baymax will allow no harm to come to them,” Thor said firmly.

“That’s a big house,” Teddy said.

“That’s his house,” Tony said with a smile as Fred walked to the door, not a moment later, both him and George dissolved into giggles as Baymax fist bumped the butler.

“Those college kids are good,” Tony said with a smile as their ‘suit up’ scene began.

“That butler is good,” George said, challenging Tony as they saw the butler deal with the kids testing their ‘super powers’ on him.

“They are so cool,” Teddy said in awe.

Tony made a thinking noise as Baymax 2.0 was introduced.

“He looks similar to your man of iron,” Thor pointed out.

“He does,” Tony said, seeing Baymax’s arm shoot like a rocket and then begin to fly, remarkably similar to his own.

Tony snorted at Hiro’s poor first flight, he recalled his own test ride that was rather alike Hiro’s.

“That is cool,” Harry said with a smile. He had missed flying the past few years, looking over at George, he was a similar wistful look to the one he must be wearing.

“Dad! He looks like Hiccup and Toothless!” Teddy said, bouncing slightly on Harry’s lap.

“The suit does make him look like Hiccup, doesn’t it,” Harry agreed.

The group feel silent only to laugh as the group of newly branded superheroes overreacted to the bird.

“No!” Teddy cried when the man in the mask threw a block at the group.

“A plan would be good,” George said as the group ran into battle.

“I thought he died in the fire,” Thor said as the professor was revealed.

“No,” Harry said softly, his arms tightened around Teddy as Hiro decided revenge was a good idea.

“Why did Baymax do that?” Teddy asked quietly as Hiro yelled at his friends.

“Hiro is hurting a lot,” Harry said, as Hiro and Baymax left. “He thought hurting the professor would make him feel better.”

Harry’s breath caught in his throat as Hiro yelled and hit Baymax.

“Tadashi,” Teddy said softly, not noticing Harry, George or Thor’s eyes begin to tear up.

“Poor kid,” Tony said quietly, seeing Hiro cry at the videos that Baymax was showing him. “Revenge doesn’t help in the long run,” he added, seeing Teddy look at him. “It can give you moments of freedom and relief but the pain will return.”

“Is Hiro going to be ok?” Teddy asked.

“I think so,” Harry said softly. “He’s a smart cookie.”

“Hiro!” Teddy cried as the boy began to float towards the teleporter.

“Destroy the microbots,” Tony said when they were trying to find another way to defeat the professor.

“Indeed, I think that would work,” Thor agreed.

“As a team, they work well together,” George pointed out as the group reformed and began to work towards their goal.

“That chemical girl is good,” Tony said with a nod as she exploded her bag.

They all watched the end of the fight scene with a smile.

“The girl!” Tony gasped as Baymax found signs of life in the portal.

“Dad,” Teddy said softly with a hint of worry in his voice and Baymax and Hiro went into the portal. Harry didn’t respond, he only tightened his arms again, he had a bad feeling about it himself.

“No!” the group that was watching the film cried when Baymax put himself between the debris and Hiro.

“He’s going to make it,” Tony said, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or the others.

“No,” all the adults began to protest weakly, leaving Teddy confused as Baymax tried to get Hiro to deactivate him.

One by one, tears began to fall from the adults eyes as they saw Hiro begin to accept what had to happen.

“No!” Teddy cried, tears falling as Baymax shot Hiro forwards. “Dad! He can’t! Baymax!”

“It’s ok cub,” Harry said softly, not trying to hide his tears as he pulled Teddy closer.

Tony, upon hearing Harry’s quiet, sad voice, pulled the two closer to his body.

“Sometimes, we need to say goodbye. Sometimes it is the best thing to do,” Tony said, using his free hand to wipe his own eyes.

“He has his brother’s lab,” Thor said, his voice gruff.

“The chip!” Tony exclaimed, a happier emotion returning to his voice. “He can build – YES!” the man cried happily.

Teddy was still crying as Harry held him through the credits.

“Baymax died,” he struggled to say.

“I know he did cub, Hiro made another Baymax though –“

“It isn’t the same!” Teddy protested.

“Perhaps a break is needed,” Thor said softly.

“He just needs to get it out of his system,” George said.

“Oh! Bonus scene,” Tony said cheerfully as the credits finished.

The adults laughed as Fred’s dad appeared and they both bonded over how they recycle their underwear.

“That man is very familiar,” Tony said finally once the small scene finished. “The name Stan Lee rings a bell as well. I can’t remember where from though.”

“That was a good film,” Thor said as the lights turned on, curtesy of Jarvis.

“It was, good job Jarvis,” Tony said.

“It was no problem Sir,” Jarvis responded promptly.

“We all look a mess,” Harry said softly, still comforting Teddy, who had stopped crying and was now just holding onto Harry.

The adults looked at each other’s red and puffy eyes before chuckling to themselves.


	26. Anger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess Who's Back!!!!!!!! So, it has been a while. I would say University got a bit much but that just isn’t true. The honest truth is that I lost inspiration due to a few comments. Every time I came back to this and attempted to write more I couldn’t.
> 
> I do understand that criticism is going to happen and I have dealt with it before. The few comments that really stuck with me felt more personal. They suggested that I wasted time and was a bad writer, whilst I know logically if I were that bad of a writer, the amount of you that have sent me such amazingly positive feedback wouldn’t have done so.
> 
> I have considered a few times about taking the previous chapter down and attempting to re-write it but in all honesty, I was happy with what I had written and it made sense to me. I had planned several things that would have been linked to the previous chapter, which is why it was structured as it was. I had deemed the scene in question slightly important.  
> So, I am going to attempt to take this as a learning curve I really don’t want to lose the love I have for this story, and I know that I am overreacting slightly to the whole issue. 
> 
> The whole reason I’m writing on here is because I love to write and I want to grow better as a writer. Honest feedback is part of that. So, whilst I didn’t appreciate the comments that feel like they are attacking me, I will take them in stride and not let myself get too caught up in them. I’ll learn from it.

Harry and Teddy spent a couple of minutes sat together whilst Tony, Thor and George left the two in the room to get more snacks.

“Dad, you’re not allowed to leave,” Teddy whispered.

“I’m not going to leave cub,” Harry said softly, holding Teddy tighter to himself.

“Promise,” Teddy said firmly.

“I promise, I’m not going anywhere,” Harry said, truly hoping that what he was saying is true.

“Is everything ok?” Tony asked quietly from the doorway.

Harry looked over to Tony and nodded. He had dealt with Teddy suddenly becoming clingy after he had learnt about his parents.

“Shall we get you another pop tart?” Harry asked, squeezing Teddy for a second. “I think Thor still has some.”

Teddy nodded, not making any move to leave Harry.

“Come on then,” Harry said, standing slowly and making sure he still had hold of the kid.

When Harry reached Tony, the other man’s hand went to Harry’s back.

“I think Thor’s making some now kiddo,” he said.

The three of them made their way to the kitchen, they found George and Thor laughing.

“He did that?” George gasped.

“Aye, he loved that trick. One he still continues to play,” Thor said fondly.

“Big guy,” Tony called. “Any pop tarts to spare?”

Thor looked to the small group, his eyes softening when he saw Teddy’s still visible distress.

“Indeed,” he said.

“Brilliant,” Harry smiled. “Hear that cub,” he said softly.

Thor’s eyes shot to Harry’s as he felt a wave of ice cold air wash over him.

“I apologise for intruding,” Death said. “I require your presence.”

Harry glanced over to the being before turning his gaze back to Thor. He gently passed Teddy over to Tony, letting the man know he’d be bright back.

“What do you need me for?” Harry asked nervously, having moved out of the kitchen. He glanced back, making sure none of them had followed him.

“I need to leave to discuss the fate of the fallen souls,” Death said.

“How long will you be gone?” Harry asked, a feeling of dread washing over him.

“It is unknown,” Death said quietly. “It would determine the length of time taken to make an agreement. There was a request for your presence, I did deter them from seeking you out.”

“My presence?” Harry asked.

“They thought that you may have been a better judge for the souls,” Death answered. “It was pointed out how recent you were to the title and that idea was not brought up again. They may still try to call you to them, but for now it isn’t a consideration.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Harry said, unsure of how he should feel about this development.

“Do not fret, I will do my best to ensure you stay to care for your child,” Death said with a bow of its head.

“There must be another reason you came,” Harry said. “Surely it wasn’t just letting me know you were leaving.”

“That was the main reason,” Death said. Harry got the feeling that Death would have rose an eyebrow at his statement, if given the chance. “There are a few more housekeeping issues I need to bring to your attention.”

Harry sighed, looking back to the room he had left.

“Couldn’t it wait?” he asked.

“Unfortunately not,” Death said silkily. “I leave as soon as we are done.”

“You left it to the last minute,” Harry concluded, a brief wave of annoyance crossing his mind.

“I was unsure of your reception,” Death admitted. “You did not take kindly to the gifts you received.”

“The gifts,” Harry said, his voice rising slightly. “No. I didn’t like being able to see how everyone will die.”

“So you were able to ignore it,” Death contradicted. “You can chose to dull those senses, a gift which not many are granted in this line of work.”

“Work?” Harry repeated, his voice mocking. “I did not sign up for this work.”

“You agreed to the title,” Death said, a stony tone entering its voice. “You passed the trails and you accepted what came with being my master. Do not think for one second that I owe you anything.”

Harry stepped back slightly, Death’s energy crashing into him with a chaotic force.

“Why me?” Harry asked.

“It was foretold. You were the strongest candidate. Even with additional power, you chose to release it rather than use it,” Death said, its voice returning to its normal raspy softness.

“There has to have been others –“

“The elder wand was a test,” Death pointed out. “Those that held its power became obsessed with gaining more. None of those men would have been suited.”

“Dumbledore wasn’t –“

“That man was corrupt in his own way,” Death said firmly, stopping Harry’s protest. “Come the dawn a reaper will request your presence. Meet with her and she will fill you in on all your duties.”

“What if I can’t meet with her?” Harry asked tiredly.

“She will make time for you,” Death responded promptly. “You cannot undo what you have done.”

“Fine,” Harry said shortly.

“Calm young one,” Death said, noticing Harry’s temper beginning to build. “It is unwise to lose control here.”

“Is there anything else?” Harry asked coldly.

“My, you are not in a happy mood today,” Death said airily.

“No, I am not,” Harry said, his voice raising. He felt his magic bubble under his skin.

“Harry,” Tony said softly.

“I did tell you to calm,” Death said. “Tomorrow morning, be ready for them.”

Harry bit his lip to stop himself from yelling at the annoying being before him.

“Are you alright? We heard you shout,” Tony said, moving forward. Just when he was in arms distance and about to reach out for Harry the man turned and stepped away.

“I wouldn’t recommend touching me,” Harry said coolly.

“What – what happened?” Tony asked, taking a step back.

“I just, I need to calm down,” Harry said, he closed his eyes. He hated admitting that Death was right. Harry had agreed to his title and he had to keep his word. He didn’t even understand why he had gotten so angry.

Tony, not understanding the risks behind Harry being emotional, pulled the man into his arms and held him despite the struggling.

For a brief second Harry struggled against Tony’s embrace before he gave in and sunk into the hold. Tony kept his arms around Harry after the man had relaxed.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

Those words seemed to remind Harry of his protests as he pulled away from Tony with wide eyes.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he gasped.

“Why not?” Tony asked, frowning.

“Magic and technology don’t work well together,” Harry said, his eyes scanned Tony. Unconsciously he also tapped into Death’s gift and scanned over Tony’s life aura. “I could have hurt you,” Harry admitted when he found nothing different in Tony’s being.

“I – sorry,” Tony said.

Harry pulled Tony towards him and held his tight.

“Just, next time let me calm down. I don’t want to put you in danger,” he said softly.

“We just need to get this thing out of my chest,” Tony pointed out, hugging the younger man.

“I sent a letter to my friend, she will have an idea of what we can do. If she’s unsure I’ll get in touch with a few healers I know. There has to be a safe way to make you safe,” Harry said. He did not want another possibility of Tony being hurt around him.

“It’s ok,” Tony said, closing his eyes and pressing his face into the messy hair. “I know you won’t hurt me.”

“I don’t always have control when I get emotional,” Harry admitted. “When I get angry my magic gets out of control.”

“It’s ok,” Tony said again.

“I shouldn’t be around you,” Harry said. “It’s bad enough putting Teddy in danger.”

“You don’t mean that,” Tony said firmly.

“At times I do,” Harry said softly.

Tony stood back, holding the younger man at arm’s length.

“One second,” he said, he kissed the top of Harry’s head before walking back to the kitchen and poking his head in. “Keep an eye on the kid?” he asked the two others, “I need to talk to Harry for a bit.”

“Of course,” George said, his ruffled Teddy’s hair, which turned red again. The young boy was sat at the table eating a pop tart as Thor and George spoke.

Nodding to himself, Tony turned back to Harry. He took his hand and led him to the elevator.

“My floor J,” he said as they enter.

“Tony,” Harry protested.

“Shush,” Tony said, holding Harry’s hand tighter. “You are not putting me or Teddy in danger. I have not seen you get angry since I’ve known you. I trust you around me one thousand percent.”

“You shouldn’t,” Harry mumbled when they reached their destination. Tony rolled his eyes and pulled Harry towards his bed.

“Sit,” he instructed. “Do you remember the first night you stayed here?” Tony asked Harry once he sat down.

“We watched the Hunger Games and Tangled,” Harry said with a nod, unsure of where Tony was going.

“That night you slept in this bed,” Tony said, gesturing to where Harry sat. “I, of course, slept next to you. Being the wonderful gentleman I am all we did was sleep,” he added playfully.

“Tony, I don’t –“

“Just listen,” Tony said, his tone more serious. “I slept next to you, not once worried that you would hurt me.”

“I still –“

“Harry. The only thing keeping me alive is this damn thing,” Tony said pointing to his arc reactor. “I trusted you enough to actually sleep and let my guard down around you. I have not once thought you were a danger.”

“You scanned me,” Harry pointed out, a twinge of pain in his chest as he remembered.

“To make sure you were safe,” Tony stressed. “Barton was controlled before, I had to be sure. You though, you on your own are not a threat to me. I don’t even think you could be a threat if you tried.”

“You don’t understand,” Harry said. “I wouldn’t hurt you, I just get angry. When I get angry I have no control. I made my aunt inflate because of something she said. I used a spell designed for torture because –“ Harry cut himself off. He felt disgusted.

“Anger is intense,” Tony agreed. “Everyone struggles with it at some point. Trust me though, I would trust you with my life green-eyes.”

“You shouldn’t,” Harry said. “A lot of people that have said that end up dead.”

“No one has managed to kill me yet,” Tony said lightly, he smiled when he saw Harry’s smile. “I’m planning on staying around as long as you’ll let me.”

Harry ran his hand though his wild hair. He felt better – lighter, after Tony’s words. He still didn’t like how much of a danger he was to the other man, but that only hardened his resolve to talk to Luna and, if necessary, the other healers. Harry would make everything safe for Tony.


	27. Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hello everyone.  
> It has been a long time. Last year was hectic. I had mental health issues on top of health issues as well as the most intense year of university. Thankfully this year doesn't look too bad with the workload and I'm hoping to have extra time to work on my stories.  
> I want to say how much I love everyone that has commented this past year because it was amazing, so many times I have been driven to open this and work on it. The only reason it didn't go further was because I did not write up to a standard I felt comfortable, I was majorly depressed and I didn't want it to show in this story.  
> I am back though and I want to say now, I am not ever planning on giving up on this story. It is my baby and I am determined to finish it, no matter how long that takes.
> 
> Now, I am hoping this chapter isn't too bad.

 

“You must be the reaper,” Harry said tiredly, he ran a hand through his wild hair as he took in the sudden appearance of the woman before him.

She was young, surrounded by a black aura. Her fiery red hair standing out greatly against the darkness around her. He features were soft, almost hypnotic as she gave Harry a sad smile. A calming sensation crept over Harry’s being as the icy feeling of death surrounded him.

“Master,” the woman said. “I am Tara.” She made no move to offer her hand, nor interact with Harry beyond her gentle words.

“You – I – you don’t have to call me that,” Harry finished helplessly. A pang of grief encased Harry’s heart at the term.

Tara tilted her head to the side, “It is required,” she said firmly.

Harry licked his lips, “okay then,” he finally said. He was unsure of how to continue, beyond Death telling him the reaper would appear, he knew nothing of what to expect.

“He said it was not time for you to begin moving souls,” Tara offered, seeming slightly amused about the awkward silence that had arrived. “You will, however, need to advise reapers that require it.”

“What – what does that mean?” Harry asked, his hand ran through his hair again. He was glad that this meeting was taking part in the early morning, yet he was also conflicted as he knew that he would then have to hold this information for the rest of the day.

“Reapers are exchanged almost constantly,” Tara offered, her tone calm and gentle. “Elder reapers are given the opportunity to pass on as new reapers are brought to replace them. He does require a… mentoring period,” Tara’s tone took an entertained tone as she continued. “Not all new reapers find the answers they need then. They learn the basics of soul collecting but there are always more difficult circumstances. It is your duty to aid them if needed.”

“How am I meant to know?” Harry asked, feeling frustrated.

“You will just know,” Tara responded, not helping Harry’s level of frustration. Noting the growing frustration, Tara then offered, “you have a link with Death. You are the Master of Death. You will know what to do when the situation requires it.”

“I – fine,” Harry sighed. “So reapers will just appear when they need help?” he asked, whilst it was not ideal, Harry admitted that it wasn’t that bad of a job to have.

“Indeed,” Tara said. “You also have another duty,” her voice trailed off slightly as she finally looked away from Harry. Her calming presence dissipating somewhat, in its place a gently nervousness probed at Harry’s mind.

“He mentioned that you may not be happy about this –“ she frowned. “He wanted – He said that he hoped it will wait but it’s unlikely.”

“What is it?” Harry asked, dread growing in his stomach.

“Some souls require judgement,” Tara said softly. “Not all easily decided as good or bad. It will likely be done in advising a reaper at this point,” she offered. “However there are more complex situations. Normally they would be the ones where either you or Death will collect the soul.”

“What does judgement mean?” Harry asked, trying to fight the slight nausea that appeared. “Like heaven and hell?”

“Not entirely,” Tara said with a flicker of amusement. “More often than not, souls are cleansed and allowed to move onwards. Some are damned, some are given time to recover or refresh, then most are reborn. Few are retired, although I believe that is normally done after they have been reborn a number of times. It will be your duty to decide what happens before the souls are reborn.”

“That –“ Harry started.

“Not all souls. He had hoped that this duty will wait but with him not being around, you have to be prepared,” Tara explained gently, taking Harry’s protest. “Most souls are easy to deal with, reapers are given a kind of guide on how to judge souls. Those they are unable or unsure of will then be your responsibility. I would recommend you read and understand the guide yourself,” she suggested.

“I – ok – how –?”

Tara rolled her eyes, “you should will them to appear. It is your duty to understand, any documents or information you need will appear if you want them.”

Harry nodded, he felt out of his element. He was unsure of just what he needed to do and it felt like too much for him to deal with.

“I must apologise Master,” Tara said, a faraway look in her eyes. “I must tend to business, one of my souls are ready to be collected. If you require any further assistance I have been told to listen for your call.”

Without even waiting for a response, the young woman disappeared. Harry was left with the icy feeling suddenly disappearing along with her as everything she had said was left to sink into Harry’s mind.

Taking a quick glance at the time, Harry resolved to dealing with his new duties later as he began to prepare for the day ahead.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“I’m not sure about this Tony,” Bruce hissed. He was currently standing in Harry’s living room. Tony had woken him, complaining that the man had been isolated for too long. Once woken and dressed, Bruce was then dragged from the Stark Tower and to Harry’s house, where Tony had promised the scientist food and human interaction.

“It’s just Harry,” Tony shrugged.

Bruce shifted his weight slightly, “no offence to either of you but I don’t know him. I don’t want to either.”

“You cannot keep yourself locked away in the lab,” Tony said firmly.

“Funny, before you met him you would have happily done the same thing,” Bruce muttered under his breath.

“Tony!” a child’s voice squealed. Bruce watched in horrified amusement as a yellow-haired child ran into Tony’s legs and seemed to try and strangle them.

Tony laughed as he pulled the child off his legs and lifted him into the air.

“Do you remember Brucie?” Tony asked the child.

“You helped my daddy,” Teddy said softly.

Bruce went to nod and agree with the child when the words died in his throat. The yellow hair that had been present was now a vivid blue.

“Ah, yes,” Tony mumbled, seeing Bruce’s open mouth. “Why don’t you go fetch your dad?” he asked Teddy as he placed him back on the ground.

Teddy nodded, giving Bruce a look of confusion.

“His –“

“Yep,” Tony said.

“It changed –“

“It did,” Tony nodded, he put his hand on Bruce’s arm and directed him to the couch.

“How?” Bruce asked, looking at Tony.

“It’s a complicated story,” Harry said, causing Bruce’s attention to snap towards the British man. “Tony,” Harry said, his eyes meeting the American’s. “Entertain Teddy please.”

“Of course,” Tony nodded. He felt slightly bad knowing that Bruce would prefer him around throughout this conversation but he felt like Harry would know the best way to break it to the man.

“We have not really talked,” Harry mused once Teddy and Tony had left the room and made their way upstairs. “I would apologise for that but I know our first meeting left us both feeling uneasy.”

“We have –“

“Talked,” Harry finished for the man. “Yes, no more than necessarily though. Quite frankly I am conflicted on telling you all of this,” Harry admitted. “Whilst I know you are not a bad person –“

“You know of the Hulk,” Bruce said with a nod. “I understand that. I’m a danger to –“

“It isn’t that you’re a danger,” Harry interrupted. “There are risks, I will not pretend otherwise. It is just a personal secret, one I was hesitant to tell Tony.”

Bruce sat back, his mind racing, “it has to do with Teddy and his hair?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded. “That is the reason you’re here. Teddy has – he – I don’t know how to phrase it in a friendly way,” Harry admitted.

“Just try?” Bruce suggested. “There isn’t much you could say that would scare me away.”

“Teddy cannot control when his hair changes. Not yet,” Harry started.

“How is that possible?” Bruce asked.

“I’m sorry but I cannot tell you yet,” Harry said with a sad smile.

“Ok,” Bruce nodded, reining his curiosity in.

“Typically it is only intense emotions that cause the changes,” Harry said. “Recently, it’s been any change in his emotions. Part of it is my own fault,” Harry admitted. “I helped him hide it without really giving him a lot of access to attempt to control it. It is something I am working on. He hit a milestone with it, he started to change his eye colour. I feel like it set his progress back even more and –“

“Why are you telling me this?” Bruce asked. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the concept, this child could change his hair colour, ok that is strange but eye colour is completely different.

“Tony mentioned you have some techniques that you learnt, ones that help control your emotions,” Harry said. “I am offering an exchange. I can guess that I know of techniques you will not have encountered and you’ll know ones I am unaware of. I was hoping we could help each other.”

Bruce doubted it. He had travelled a lot and nothing worked brilliantly. He knew he couldn’t leave the child as he was though. It was a horrible feeling letting your emotions control yourself.

“How would this work?” Bruce asked with a sigh, even though he had reached his decision, he was not yet confident saying it out loud.

Harry gave the older man a soft smile, “I would offer myself as your guide in the techniques but I’m not a master of them myself. I can advise you in the beginning but then I would probably do more harm than help. If you don’t mind I would rather introduce you to a friend of mine. She is amazing,” Harry’s smile changed to a full one as he thought of Hermione. “If she cannot help then I don’t know who else would be able to,” he finished honestly.

“I’m not –“

“You don’t have to decide right now, as I said, I can help you start. I can’t guarantee how helpful I will be but we can at least narrow down a few techniques you haven’t tried and work from there. If you then feel comfortable enough, I can give you my friends contact details,” Harry said. “As for Teddy, I would really appreciate it if you could try and teach him a few of the techniques you had encountered on your travels. It is important that he learns to, not necessarily mask his gift, but to control it when required.”

Bruce’s eyebrows raised, “you would feel comfortable with my around your child?” he asked.

Harry’s smile dropped slightly at Bruce’s question. He faintly recalled Remus’ words after he had discovered Tonks was pregnant; _“If, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!”_

It was with a steely tone that Harry responded, “I do not doubt you. A man I once knew had a similar… _condition_ as you. He viewed himself as an outcast because he was not like the rest of us,” Harry felt somewhat pleased at the small wince Bruce made. “He hated himself so much that he denied himself the joys of life,” he continued. “He avoided people he loved and even went as far as feeling the need to run from his family because he felt he was a danger.”

Bruce stayed silent, now feeling unable to even look at Harry.

“In the end,” Harry said in a soft voice. “That man became one of the bravest men I knew. He managed to fall in love and have a wonderful son. Bruce,” Harry said, prompting the man to look at him. “Even though he was terrified that he would hurt someone, he never did. He died in order to save the people he loved. So yes, I feel comfortable with you around Teddy. I do not doubt that you’ll be able to remove yourself from the environment if you feel like you need to. I just hope you feel comfortable enough with yourself to be around him. It’s easy for me to say, but you don’t have to be scared of yourself.”

Harry let the conversation stop there as Bruce stared at the man in shock. He had repeatedly opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to vocalise the mass swirl of conflicting emotions and thoughts that overtook him.

“I should probably make sure those two haven’t destroyed Teddy’s room,” Harry said softly after several long minutes of silence. He offered Bruce another warm smile before leaving the man alone on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think next chapter might focus on Bruce a bit more. I'm not sure if I want him and Teddy to have a meditation interaction yet. Maybe just a bit of bonding between them? I'm not sure just yet.  
> Also, I'm wanting a chapter up next weekend but I don't feel comfortable enough making that promise. It is my current goal but life can be horrible sometimes.


	28. Members of a Broken Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit early but I finished it and am having cuteness overload. I hope you all enjoy! The next chapter may take a little longer since I became obsessed with another story idea but it's a different thing completely and I am still continuing this one so don't worry.  
> Hope you enjoy!

It took Harry’s insistence that Bruce stay for breakfast as Tony had woken the man and pretty much dragged him from the tower to see Harry. Even with the insistence, Bruce did not feel at ease in the company of the small family. Although it did strike him as odd that the thought of Tony fitting into the family before him did not seem as outrageous as it had previously.

The air of unease did not leave Bruce completely, despite the unconscious relaxing atmosphere that seemed present in the house. It was easy for Bruce to mentally step back and observe those around him. Tony seemed to fit into the morning dynamic without a problem, entertaining a still tired child as Harry busied himself several steps away cooking bacon.

Bruce found himself watching Teddy the most. The child was animated in his speech, despite the clear signs of exhaustion still clinging to him in the early morning. He had no filter as he spoke to Tony about his dreams of animals running through a forest, about how the small rat was happy to hide as the bigger of its friends chased it.

“And then – and then – and then –“ Teddy said, his eagerness showing as he struggled to get the words out quickly enough.

“Take a breath,” Harry said fondly. “Your mind is running a bit too fast again.”

“Oh!” Teddy gasped. He did as asked, taking a moment to hold the deep breath before releasing it. “And then my real daddy found him and they all went back to the house and fell asleep,” he finished his tale with an enormous smile.

“That sounds like a really interesting dream kid,” Tony said, he then opened his mouth as if to ask a question before he looked towards Bruce. “Ah –“

Bruce gave his friend a confused look, almost wanting to question the reaction that occurred.

“Uncle George!” Teddy’s lough voice cut Bruce’s thoughts off. Sparing a glance towards to man he had briefly met before, he was once again shocked as Teddy’s black hair changed to a vivid red, matching the other mans.

“Oof,” George exhaled, without even a second thought, the man and bent down and scooped the child up into his arms.

“Tony brought a friend round,” the kid cried happily.

“I can see that,” George said cheekily as he set Teddy on the edge of the table.

“No bottoms on the table please,” Harry playfully scolded as he waved a spatula around, causing Teddy to giggle and George to give a deep forced sigh.

“You heard the man,” he said regretfully, he gently lifted the child up once more and with a teasing smirk he had dropped him onto Bruce’s lap, much to the man’s horror.

Tony froze momentarily, aware of how little Bruce trusted himself as well as being aware of the current look of horror on Bruce’s face as the child turned to look at him. George gave Tony a look, his teasing mask still in place with a raised eyebrow. Bruce could tell that Harry was fully aware of what was happening behind him from the slight tense of his stance.

“Aunt Hermione says it’s not nice to intro – introduce yourself,” Teddy said thoughtfully. “My name is Teddy,” he then said with a smile. “Tony says you’re very nice, and that you work with him although you don’t make robots but that’s ok because not everyone can make robots and it takes a really smart person to do that –“ Teddy cut himself off quickly with a frown. “It’s not nice to call people stupid,” he said as if he was reminding himself. He then added an honest, “I’m sorry. Tony says you’re very smart and you helped my daddy so thank you. He also said you’re an a – a – aven –“

“Avenger,” Tony offered with a smile, his brief moment of panic completely gone as Bruce’s horrified look turned to a bemused one.

“That’s it,” Teddy agreed with an over exaggerated nod. “An Avenger, which is a superhero! So it’s ok if you can’t make robots because you help keep people safe!”

Bruce opened his mouth. Then closed it. He shot a helpless look towards Tony, unsure of what to do.

“Yes?” Bruce said, unable to stop himself smiling as Teddy’s face lit up once again. “I’m Bruce, but I think you know that,” he said softly.

Teddy nodded, “Aunt ‘Mione –“

“Doesn’t like to be called that,” George interrupted, knowing the conversation would turn circular if Teddy continued. “You know she was happy when you learnt how to say her name,” George added gently. “Speaking of which,” George said turning to Harry. “She wanted to know if the offer of bed and breakfast was still available if she visited. She was eager to see how different it was here and how Teddy’s education was going,” he finished, ruffling the bright red hair on the child.

“She knows it is,” Harry sighed with a fond smile. “You weren’t the only one that I offered a room to. I expected her before now, you know she has a hard time stopping herself finding out new things.”

“Ah, but Harry, my dear boy, that was before she settled and started the new job,” George teased.

Harry rolled his eyes, a slight pang of loneliness in his chest as he thought of his friends. “I guess,” he said as he finished plating up the breakfast.

Breakfast passed pleasantly. Teddy was content to move to his own chair, the one that was ‘only his and no one else’s’ as he had seriously told Bruce. The adults were left to maintain the light level of conversation. George, Harry and Tony talked among each other without a single worry, a fact that made Bruce somewhat envious. Harry and George were happy to try and include Bruce in the conversation, asking about where he had travelled and other little things.

In the end, Tony declared himself and Harry as the cleaners and pushed a confused Bruce in the direction that George and Teddy had gone.

“I guess that he doesn’t act like that,” George said gently as he gestured for Bruce to follow him upstairs.

“No, not at all,” he responded softly. “I never expected his to be so domestic.”

George snorted, “domestic is one way to put it.”

“How would you describe that,” Bruce said, waving a hand down the stairs.

“He’s leaving you with us so you can get used to us,” George pointed out, raising an eyebrow as if asking Bruce to contradict him.

“You are probably right,” Bruce sighed.

“Uncle George!” Teddy’s voice called from a room on the right.

“Let’s go subject ourselves to the joy of imagination,” George said with a wink before he walked into the room.

Bruce hesitated for a moment, sending a quick longing glance down the stairs towards the door.

Bruce couldn’t help the smile as he entered the room, seeing Teddy happily giggling as he pulled out blocks and action men as well as some other dolls. The child seriously told each of the adults that they had to pick two toys to help build the city and they needed to finish it before the dragon came and ate them all.

That is how the rest of the morning passed, George and Bruce listening to the child’s whims and creating buildings and castle walls out of anything they could find in the room, books, blocks, and even pencils were used in order to create the best houses.

It was after, what felt like, hours of hard work that Teddy sorrowfully informed the two men that the dragons were coming. The child had grasped a pillow to his chest and had told the adults to do the same as they prepared for the attack.

“Get ready!” George had shouted as Teddy screamed.

Then Bruce watched in amusement as both of the people in front of him began to use their pillows as weapons to destroy the town that they had spent so long creating. With Teddy’s encouragement, Bruce joined in, unable to stop the smile or the laughter that came with the roars Teddy was making.


End file.
